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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 







•MPION WIN F AMEF 



Field, Coyer, and Trap Shooting. 



ey y 

ADAM II. BOGARDUS, 



Champion Wing Shot of America. 



EMBRACING 



HINTS FOR SKILLED MARKSMEN ; INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUNG 

SPORTSMEN ; HAUNTS AND HABITS OF GAME BIRDS ; 

FLIGHT AND RESORTS OF WATER FOWL : 

BREEDING AND BREAKING OF DOGS. 



EDITED BY CHARLES J. FOSTER. 

f 







3&!NG1($& 



New York : 
J. B. FORD & COMPANY 



18*74. 



SK * 



Kntercd, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

J. B. FORD & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 



JOHN ROSS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, 27 ROSE STREET, NEW YORK. 



TO THE 

f&on. Joiju 1£. Jfyatkttt, 

Recorder of Xew York, 

A GENTLEMAN RENOWNED ALIKE FOR PROFI- 
CIENCY IN FIELD SPORTS, AND FOR 
LEARNING, WISDOM, AND 
IMPARTIALITY ON 
THE BENCH, 

THI 8 BOOK 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

BY 

THE AUTHOR AND THE EDITOR. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

General Introductory Remarks. 

Great Increase of Field Shooting— Delights of the Sport— Expe- 
rience in the Field— Beginning in Albany County, New York, at 
Ruffed Grouse and "Woodcock — Removal to Sangamon River, Illi- 
nois — Great Abundance of Game— Numerous Deer — Removal to 
Elkhart, Logan County — Vast Numbers of Pinnated Grouse — 
Gillott's Grove— Osage Orange Hedges and Quail— Pinnated 
Grouse shot too early — Diminution of Breeding Places — Migration 
of the Grouse late in Fall— Ducks and Geese in Corn-Fields 
—Nesting Places of Grouse and of Quail— Evil of Prairie- 
Burning late in Spring— Snipe, Golden Plover, and Upland Plover 
—The American Hare or Rabbit— Hawks after Game— The "Win- 
nebago Swamp Breeding-place of Ducks and Crane— "Wolves in 
the Swamp— A "Wolf-Hunt in Gillott's Grove — Eagles and Foxes, 
etc., 13-34 

CHAPTER II. 

Guns and Their Proper Charges. 

Skill and Ingenuity of Gunmakers— Improvements and Inventions 
of Late Years — Vast Advantage from the Breech-Loader — Safest 
and best of Guns — Proved by Experience — Close Hard Shooting — 
Convenience — Safety and Rapidity of Loading — Certainty in Wet 
Weather — Comparative Cost of Breech-Loaders — Metallic Car- 
tridge-Cases — Size of Guns — Advantage of Weight— The Suitable 
Stock— Proper Filling of Cartridges— Trials of Guns — Breech- 
Loader en*. Muzzle-Loader— Loading of Cartridges— Quantity of 
Powder— Sizes of Shot for Different Game— Dead-Shot Powder— 
Tatham's Shot— Disadvantage of very Large Shot, . . 35-5J 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 
Pinnated Grouse Shooting. 

Abundance in the Prairie States— Of Service to the Farmer- 
Grouse Polygamous— Booing ' of the Cocks in Spring— Nesting- 
time and Nests— Rapid Growth of the Young Birds— Supposed 
Hybrids— Grouse Shooting in August too Early— The Easiest 
there is — The Corn-Fields the only Protection— Grouse found at 
Morning in Stubbles— In Clear Weather no Shooting in the 
Middle of the Day— On Damp, Cloudy Days Grouse in Stubbles 
all Day — On Clear Days Shoot again towards Evening — Grouse 
in Pasture-Land — Shooting in McLean County— Beware of Shoot- 
ing too Quick— Mr. Sullivant's Great Farm— Water for Men and 
Dogs must be Carried, 55-71 



CHAPTER IV. 

Late Pinnated Grouse Shooting. 

The Middle of the Day the best Time— Good Shooting in Corn after 
the Frosts— Wheat Sowed in Corn-Fields— No Shooting on Cloudy 
Days — November Shooting Best — Grouse in Sod Corn— A Day in 
Champagne County — Grouse will not Lie on Damp, Cloudy Days 
— Indian Summer a Good Time — The Prairies in Spring — On 
Bright Mornings in Winter — Scene near Chatsworth, Iroquois 
County, on a December Morning— Necessity of Silence in Late 
Grouse Shooting— A Trip to Christian County, , , . 73-88 

CHAPTER V. 

Quail Shooting in the West. 

Abundance of Quail in the Western States— Increase in the Prairie 
States— Osage Orange Hedges a Great Cause— Afford Nesting 
Places, Protect from Hawks, and Shelter in Severe Weather- 
Nesting Places and Nests— The Quail Hawk— Beginning of tho 
Shooting— Best Shooting after the Frosts in November and De- 
cember—Up at Early Morning— Fine, Clear Days Best— Lie well 
when Scattered— Pack late in Fall— Run in Damp and Wet 
Weather— Netting now Unlawful— Quail Shooting on Salt Creek, 
Sangamon River— Quail not Difficult to Shoot— Missed through 
Haste— Shooting on Shoal Creek, Missouri— Quail in Hedges- 
Quail in tho South, 89-l f 6 



CONTENTS, 5 

CHAPTER VI. 

Ruffed Grouse Shooting. 

Distribution and Habits of the Birds— Found in Wild, Lonely 
Places — Favorite Food of Ruffed Grouse — Beauty and Pride of 
the Bird — The Drumming of the Male— Deceptiveness of the 
Sound— Macdonald's Drummer-Boy — Much Drumming Before 
Rain— Nest of the Ruffed Grouse— The Young on the Cass River, 
Michigan— "Wolves at the Camp on the Cass— The Chippewa 
Indians— Wildness of Ruffed Grouse— The First I ever Shot- 
Ruffed Grouse hard to Shoot Flying— Goes for Densest Part of 
the Thicket— May be Shot over Setters, .... 107-120 



CHAPTER VII. 

Shooting the Woodcock. 

Arrival in Spring— The Breeding Season— Nest of the Woodcock— 
A Woodcock in Confinement — Voracity in Feeding — Young Full 
Grown in July— Solitary Birds after Separation of Brood— Noc- 
turnal in Habit — Supposed Second Migration — Laboring Flight in 
Summer — Difficult to shoot — Density of Foliage — Snap Shooting- 
Swift and Twisting Flight in Autumn — Bottoms and Islands of 
the Mississippi River — Woodcock on the Illinois River— Scarcer 
in general in the West than in the Atlantic States — Fall Wood- 
cock Shooting, 121-133 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Snipe and Snipe Shooting. 

Breeds North of Virginia, but only sparsely in the United States- 
Arrives at Columbus, Kentucky, early in March — Never appears 
before the Frost out of Ground — Nearly a Month Later in Illinois 
than in Kentucky— The Spring Shooting Best— Snipe Wild at 
First Arrival— Get Fat and Lazy— Snipe Shooting on the Sanga- 
mon— Snipe very Abundant in the West— Should be Beat for 
Down-Wind— No Need for Dog on Good Snipe Ground — Difficult 
to Shoot in Corn-Fields— Shooting on the Bottoms— Easy to Kill 
when Fat — A Proposed Match— In Snipe Shooting much Walking 
Required— Snipe Shooting along Sloughs and Swales— Hovering of 
Snipe-Tho Fall Snipe Shooting, 133-148 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Golden Plover, Curlew, Gray Plover. 

Arrival of Golden Plover and Curlew— First Seen on Burnt Prairies 
—Plover liko Bare Earth and Pastures— Golden Plover and Cur- 
lew in Flocks Together— They Follow the Plough— Lying Down 
for Plover— Plover Shooting from a Buggy— The Method of It- 
How to Shoot Plover on Foot— Plover Circle Round the Wounded 
—An Afternoon's Shooting near Elkhart — Plover Shooting in 
Christian County— Golden Plover Scattered— Fast Flyers and 
Good Practice — The Upland or Gray Plover— Last of Spring 
Migrants— Breeds in Illinois, Iowa, etc. — Ready to Pair when It 
Arrives— Should not be Shot in the Spring— Nest of the Upland 
Plover — Difficult to Shoot in Autumn — Horse and Buggy Needed 
—Flight of Upland Plover— Sand Snipe and Grass Snipe, . 149-167 

CHAPTER X. 

Wild Ducks and Western Duck Shooting. 

Tho Prime Western Ducks— Beauty of the Wood Duck— Its Rapid 
Flight — The Mallard— Its Excellence and Beauty— Comparison 
with Canvas-Back— Mallards' Nests— The Flappers— Ducks begin 
to Arrive by Middle of February— Habits of Mallards and Pintails 
— Their Vast Numbers— Remain Four or Five Weeks— Coming of 
Ducks in the Fall— Vast Numbers— When Cold Sets In— Heard 
in the Air all Night — Duck Shooting in the Corn-Fields— Color of 
Clothes Important— Ducks TVary and Far-Sighted— Method of 
Shooting, , 168-182 

CHAPTER XI. 

Ducks and Western Duck Shooting. 

Cold Work in Hard Weather— The Illinois River— Tho Western 
Corn-Fields — Shooting in Them in Fall — Osage Orange Hedges- 
Flight of Ducks in Wet, Windy Weather— In Clear Weather- 
Ducks in Flight seem Neare-r than They Are— Shooting at Prairie 
Ponds and Sloughs — Live Decoys Best — Dead Duck Decoys bet- 
ter than Wooden — Method of Setting Dead Mallards as Decoys — 
Duck Shooting in tho Winnebago Swamp— Duck Shooting in Ford 
County— Mr. M. Sullivant's Great Farm— Duck Shooting en tho 
Sangamon— Shooting from the Timber— Ninety-fivo Mallards with 
No. 9 Shot — Water Fowl Peek Timber in Hard, Windy 
Weather, 1BS-19T 



COXTENP '.. 7 

CHAPTER XII. 

Wild Geese, Cranes, and Swans. 

The Canada Goose and Brant Goose— Mexican Geese— Hutchinson's 
Goose— The White-Fronted Goose — The Snow Goose— Migration 
of Wild Geese— Flight of Wild Geese— Habits of the Geese— First 
of the Spring Migrants — Geese on Pasture-Lands — The Bert 
Shooting Places — Means of Concealment— Shooting on the Pas- 
tures from a Buggy — Long Shots at Geese — The Fall Geese — In 
Wheat-Fields and Shocked Corn— The Roosting Places— Times 
when Geese Resort to Timber — A Flock on the Ice — Getting into 
the River — The Ague, and a Remedy — Shooting Brant and Mexican 
Geese — Great Packs of Mexican Geese — The Cranes of the West 
— The Sand-Hill Crane — Its High Flight in Spring— Feeding on 
Corn in Fall — The Large White Crane — Wounded Cranes Fight 
Hard — Flesh of Cranes when Hung — Pelicans and Swans on the 
Mississippi, 198-222 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Wild Turkey and Deer Shooting. 

Excellenco and Beauty of the Wild Turkey— Its Haunts and Habits 
—Methods of Shooting Turkeys— The Wild Turkey's Nest— Track- 
ing Turkeys in Snow— Shooting in Thick Snow-Storms— Shooting at 
Crossing Places — Tracking Turkeys on the Sangamon — Lost in 
the Timber— A Walk Home of Thirteen Miles— The Great Gobbler 
of the Sangamon— Turkey Shooting on Shoal Creek— The Cold 
Nights in Camp — Eleven Turkeys to One Gun in Half a Bay — 
After a Wounded Deer — Camping Out without a Tent— A Heavy 
Thunder-Storm on Delavan Prairie — Deer Shooting in the West — 
Haunts and Habits — My First Deer— Deer Shooting on Horse- 
back, 223-250 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Art of Shooting on the Wing. 

Tho Art Easily Acquired — Boys Should begin to Shoot Early — No 
Danger of Accidents — Loading Guns — Large Shot and Too Much 
Shot Mischievous — Guns for Boys — Handling the Gun — Loading 
the Gun— Light Loads at First — Shooting at a Target — No Shoot- 
ing at Sitting Birds — Shooting Larks and Blackbirds— How to 
Aim— Shooting at Toung Grouse— The Causes of Missing— How to 
Aim at Crossing Birds— Long Shots — The Shot Towers at New 
York— Tho Cartridge Company of Bridgeport, , , 261-275 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Sporting Dogs— Breeding and Breaking. 

Setters and Pointers— Advantages and Drawbacks of Each— The 
Sharpness of Prairie Grass — Cockle-Burrs in Setters' Coats — Set- 
ters Retrieve Well in Water— Cross-Bred Dogs— How to Breed 
Them— Their Stoutness in the Field— No Timid Dogs Among 
Them— History of Fanny, Daughter of a Pointer Dog and Setter 
Bitch— An English Pointer not to be Called Off— He Points at 
Grouse all Night — Best Age for Breaking Dogs — Method of Break- 
ing — The Setter, Jack — Dick, Son of a Pointer Dog and Setter 
Bitch — Miles Johnson as a Breaker, ..... 276-299 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Pigeon Shooting. 

My Beginning at Pigeons— Match ' against Staunton— Against A. 
Kleinman — Championship of Illinois — Match to Shoot from Buggy 
—Match at Five Hundred — Match to Fall One Hundred Consecu- 
tively — Match against Mr. King— Match against Doxis— Sweep- 
stakes at Chicago— Match against J. Kleinman— Match with Ira 
Paine — Championship and Other Matches — Matches with A. 
Kleinman — Match against Four Marksmen — Advice to Members 
of Shooting Club — Suggestion for New Rule— H and T Traps- 
Scores of Championship Matches— Scores of Exhibition and Other 
Matches— Conditions and Rules of Champion Badges and Medals 
—Rules of Pigeon Shooting, ...... 300-343 



PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 



In the following work, Captain Bogardus has 
placed before his readers all the knowledge of the 
haunts and habits of game-birds, and of the art 
of shooting on the wing, which twenty -five years' 
almost constant pursuit has enabled him to attain. 
It is conveyed plainly and briefly, but fully and 
without the slightest reserve or qualification. It 
was deemed that this full communication of all 
he knew on these subjects was due to his readers, 
when he resolved to appear before the public as 
the author of a book. Few men have had an ex- 
perience as varied and as large ; none, I verily 
believe, have attained as much knowledge of game, 
or as much skill with the gun* 

Of late years, at many places where his skill 
was displayed, he was often urged to embody 
what he knew of game and of the art of shooting 
in a book, in order that sportsmen whose other 
avocations prevented them from paying very great 
and prolonged attention to those subjects, might 
reap the benefit of his experience. With a view 



10 PREFACE LSV THE EDITOR. 

to comply with these requests, he came to New 
York, and proposed to me that 1 should assist 
him in the necessary composition of the work. 
Perceiving the vast fund of practical knowledge 
he had amassed, and knowing that the hook 
would form a most valuable contribution to sport- 
ing literature, I gladly acceded to his proposal, 
and the result of our combined and conscientious 
labors is now before the public. 

I believe this is the first work of the kind 
that was ever undertaken by a thoroughly prac- 
tical man, and strictly confined to the knowledge 
and information derived from his own observa- 
tion. It would have been very easy to make 
the book twice as large as it is, by copying, 
with or without credit, as is the custom, long 
extracts and descriptions from the standard authors 
of natural history in this country, but to what 
useful end ? These matters have been copied by 
one author after another about a dozen times 
already, and readers have been so provoked by 
the everlasting repetition of Latin names for 
familiar birds, that many must have been on 
the point of pitching the pedantic copy-books 
into the fire. In this work another method has 
been followed altogether, TTore are the observa- 



PREFACE DY THE EDITOR. H 

tions and accumulated knowledge of a man who 
has been practically engaged in the pursuit of 
game in a thoroughly sportsmanlike manner for 
twenty -five years. 

For much the greater part of that period, 
Captain Bogardus has maintained and brought up 
his respectable and interesting family, almost solely 
by his gun. From that fact, I concluded that 
his was the knowledge and experience which 
would be valuable and instructive to sportsmen, 
young and old, and interesting to the general 
public. The former do not want to listen to 
people who know no more than they know them- 
selves. The latter do not want to peruse the 
work of a man on any subject if he never rises 
above mediocrity, while they gladly welcome the 
book of one who has proved himself a master 
of his art. ^Because Captain Bogardus had been 
able to live for many years solely by his gun, 
lie was of all men best qualified to enlighten 
old sportsmen, and instruct the young in regard 
to the habits and haunts of game and the art of 
shooting. 

It has often been said that pinnated grouse 
could not be killed by the gun in the months of 
November and Pooembor. because thev were so 



J2 PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 

wild, and this alleged fact was made the excuse 
for the trapping and netting by which the markets 
of the great cities are mainly supplied with that 
bird in those months. Hardly one out of twenty 
then offered for sale has been shot. But Captain 
Bogardus proves that this is either pure inven- 
tion of the netters and trappers, or due to the 
imagination of those whose skill with the gun 
being small, and whose knowledge of the habits 
of the game being scanty, have failed to kill 
any at such times themselves. He tells us how 
he killed them with the gun, and how you can 
kill them if you follow his instructions. 

It will be seen by this work that Captain Bo- 
gardus has been a sportsman of the most resolute 
and persistent character. No difficulty deterred 
him, no fatigue subdued him, no misfortune dis- 
heartened him, when he was out with his dogs 
and his gun. He has also been a man of the 
closest observation and of much reflection. 
Hence his philosophy on the habits of birds of 
pursuit by the sportsman, and in regard to the 
art and principles of shooting, will be found 
especially valuable and interesting. 

CHARLES J. FOSTER. 



Field, Cover, and Trap Shooting. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

Within a comparatively recent period the num- 
bers of those who follow the delightful and healthful 
sports of the field have increased almost beyond 
calculation in this country, and they are still ra- 
pidly augmenting. Among all those sports there 
is none so easy of attainment, and certainly none 
so invigorating, useful, and enjoyable, as the pur- 
suit of game-birds, waterfowl, etc., over dogs, or, at 
flight time, in the neighborhood of the haunts of 

O 7 o 

the latter. The vast extent and variety of our 
territory — woodland interspersed among prairie, pas- 
ture, and cultivated farms — the great abundance of 
game to be met with by those who know when 
and where to seek for it, and the many kinds to 
be found in these favorite haunts at the proper 
seasons, afford such excellent and varied shooting as 
may hardly be experienced if sought for anywhere 

13 



14 FIELD SHOOTINU. 

else. The art of shooting swift-flying birds on the 
wing is of comparatively recent origin in this 
country. Years ago but few people followed it, 
and they had mostly acquired their skill in Europe 
before they came here. The quickness and art 
necessary for even moderate success were almost 
comparatively unknown in the regions where such 
game most abounded, and they were in a great 
measure deemed worthless, of no more practical 
use than the curious tricks of a juggler. This was 
not unnatural. The backwoodsmen, and those set- 
tlers who had made lodgments in the immense 
prairies of the Western States, could kill a buck 
with the rifle, or knock over a fat turkey with the 
same arm ; and those who had old-fashioned smooth- 
bores seldom shot with anything less than buck- 
shot, or the largest sizes of other shot. Hence 
they looked with a sort of lazy curiosity akin to 
contempt upon the doings of the men who, with 
good guns and small shot, killed " little birds," as 
quail, plover, woodcock, snipe, etc., were denomi- 
nated. The use of the setter and pointer wph 
j>ractically unknown. The game was considered 
to be a trifling matter, not worth the powder and 
shot expended upon it. The latter were somewhat 
dear, and monev was verv scarce. Tho hunters 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 15 

and Indian:-; called tin' shot-gun l>y the derisive term 
" sipiaw gun," and wondered that grown men should 
delight in its use. All that is now greatly changed. 
Thousands every year enjoy sport of the highest 
order, and fill their bags in the most artistic man- 
ner, in many parts of the country where shooting 
on the wins: v '"^ s formerly unknown. Shooting of 
this sort once enjoyed is never willingly relinquished 
altogether. Those who arc able to afford the cost 
and spare, the time from their avocations in the 
great cities impatiently count the days which must 
intervene before the time comes for them to jump 
aboard the train with their guns and their sporting 
paraphernalia, bound to the shooting-grounds — the 
places where game is to be found in abundance. 
Arrived in these sections, and meeting with old 
friends, the harassed and weak grow vigorous again, 
and the strong become stronger. The consciousness 
of skill, the confidence begotten of success, give such 
a spring to the mind and nerves, and inflame the 
ardor of pursuit to such a degree, that the fatigues 
of the excursion arc scarcely perceived, and its 
privations, if such they may be called, arc laughed 
at and merrily endured till speedily forgotten. The 
habits of the various kinds of game are a subject 
of gteat interest and observation. The fine and 



h) J 1KI.D KIlOOTINU. 

o»iger instinct of the clogs, their great sagacity, en- 
durance, and patience, are remarked "with pride and 
admiration. The features of the varied landscapes 
— hill and vale, woodland and riverside, vast prairies 
with groves and fringes of timber on the branches 
of winding and meandering streams, broad fields of 
land, now in pasture, now covered with brown 
stubble, now waved over by the green flags of the 
corn, tall, strong, and a place of refuge for quail, 
grouse, etc. — afford constant pleasure to the sports- 
man. And after the labors and sports of the day 
are done, the camp-fire beneath the trees, on the 
banks of a stream or the margin of a little lake, is 
a place of calm recreation and repose. You may 
hear the call of the night-birds, and the low, sup- 
pressed noises of the nocturnal animals afoot after 
their prey, but neither the hoot of the owl nor the 
howl of the wolf will drive slumber from the 
pillow of brush upon which you rest. The night 
brings enjoyment almost as pleasant as that which 
was the recompense of the exertions of the day. 

Having followed shooting for twenty-five years, 
mostly all through the different seasons, and some- 
times camped out as much as three months at a 
time, never sleeping in a house during that period, 
I believe I have a sound and extensive practical 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 17 

knowledge of the matters upon Which this Look 
is to treat. I am no scientific naturalist, and what 
I know has not been derived from books. I cannot 
give the. Latin names of birds of game, waterfowl, 
snipe, woodcock, etc., and if I could you would not 
care about them, because the constant repetition 
of them makes no impression at all upon the 
sportsman. To him the quail is simply a quail, 
the pinnated grouse (commonly called prairie 
chicken) is a grouse, and no Latin is required 
to make him understand what you mean by a 
snipe or a woodcock. I cannot set down the sci- 
entific names by which naturalists distinguish the 
birds of which I shall treat, but I know their 
haunts and habits, and I can tell you when and 
where to seek them, and how to kill them in a 
sportsmanlike and satisfactory manner. 

I was born in Albany County, New York, and 
began to shoot at fifteen years of age. I was then 
a tall, strong lad, and have since grown into a 
large, powerful, sinewy, and muscular man. I 
have always enjoyed fine health, had great strength 
ahii endurance, and been capable of much exertion 
and exposure. When I began to shoot, there was 
a. good deal of game in Albany County, and it 
<iu"fiy consisted of ruffed grouse and woodcoek. 



18 FIELD SHOOTING. 

which arc difficult birds for young beginners. I 
received no instructions from anybody, but I pos- 
sessed a quick, true eye, and steady nerve, and 
had, as I believe, the natural gifts which enable a 
man to become in time, with proper opportunity, 
a first-rate field shot. It was a lorn? time after 
that before I ever shot at a pigeon from a trap, 
and I confess that I had for many years a strong 
prejudice against that sort of shooting. There 
were no quail, snipe, or ducks about Albany 
County at that time, and it was not until I re- 
moved to the West that I became familiar with 
them and with the pinnated grouse. Seventeen 
years ago I moved to Illinois, and settled on the 
Sangamon River, near Petersburg. It was more 
a broken, swampy country, with much cover, than 
a prairie land like that to the northwards in the 
State. Game of all sorts was in vast abundance. 
There were vast numbers of quail ; the pinnated 
grouse were rather numerous, though nothing like 
as much so as upon some of the great prairies ; 
ducks and geese came in immense flocks every 
spring and fall, and deer and turkeys abounded. 
It was, too, and is to this day, one of the best 
places for snipe that I know of. It was a para- 
dise for a sportsman: and as for the snipe ahtl 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 1 9 

quail, there was hardly a man there who could 
kill them except myself. Lots of men used to 
go out to see me shoot. There was one, a great 
hunter of deer and turkeys, with whom I became 
very intimate. At first he laughed at me when 
he saw me loading with No. 8 shot. " That wunt 
kill nothin', stranger,"' said he. " What little I 
do at quail I do with No. 1 shot, and for 
prairie chicken I always use BBs. You can't stop 
'em with anything lighter." 

But lie changed his opinion when he found by 
experience that I could kill ten to his one, and then 
it was the old story of the fox and grapes. " Darn 
the little creatures, I say ! " he exclaimed ; " I 
got no use for 'em anyhow ! " At that time I 
used to stint myself in quail-shooting time to 
twenty-five brace a day. When I had got them, I 
gave over for the day. Often when I was shoot- 
ing quail in the oak barrens two or three deer 
have got up close to me. I shot some turkeys ; 
but my bag was mostly made up of quail and 
pinnated grouse in the fall, and of snipe in the. 
spring. There were snipe in the fall too, but not 
so many. Ducks and geese were plentiful in the 
fall and spring, but I did not go after them much 
at that time. I had no wagon and team, and a 



20 FIELD HHOOTIN'O. 

bunch of ducks and geese is very heavy to carry. 
The country about the Sangamon "was wild and 
very sparsely settled. Even now it has no large 
population, and remains a great resort for ducks 
and geese, a fine place for snipe, and the quail 
still abound. There was a line variety of ducks. 
The bag would include mallards, bluebills, pin- 
tails, green-winged teal and blue-winged teal, with 
some wood-ducks. I consider the mallard the best 
duck we have in the West, and I doubt very much 
whether there is any better anywhere else. A 
great deal is said about the canvas-back, and 
with justice ; but I do not think them any better 
eating than mallards arc in the fall of the year, 
when they come on large and fat and glorious in 
plumage from the wild rice-fields of the north- 
west, away in the British territories. 

After staying on the Sangamon about two years 
I moved to Elkhart, in Logan County, where I 
have lived ever since. It is in the heart of the 
State of Illinois, a hundred and sixty-six miles 
south of Chicago, eighteen miles northwest of 
Springfield, and one hundred and fifteen miles from 
St. Louis. It was then a grand place for game, 
and is very good now late in the fall, when the 
pinnated grouse pack and partially migrate. Fif- 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. \ 1 1 

teen years ago the prairies there were but sparsely 
settled, and not one acre in a thousand had been 
broken up. The grouse were in immense num- 
bers; the quail, though, were not as plentiful as 
on the Sangamon in the brushy land of the oak 
barrens. There was, however, and is now, a grove 
of timber six hundred acres in extent, not far from 
the town. It is one of the finest in the State, and 
in it and on its borders there were many quail. 
This grove was then owned and still belongs to 
Mr. John D. Gillot. lie has a great stock-farm, 
his pasture-land running for seven miles at a 
stretch. Being a man of great enterprise, as well 
as large means, he planted hedges all over this 
estate. They have now grown up, and, affording 
harbor and nesting-places for the quail, the latter 
arc now more plentiful in that neighborhood than 
they were when I first went to live there. At 
that time very few in those parts used the double- 
barrelled gun, and shot over dogs. I was about 
the only one who followed shooting systematically 
and thoroughly. But though the quail in that 
neighborhood are now very abundant, they are 
hard to kill. The corn grows very tall, and as 
soon as a bevy is flushed away they go for the 
corn-fields. Once in them, with the stalks stand- 



22 FIELD-SI100TIN0. 

ing thick and high above your head, you can 
only kill birds by snap shots such as you make 
at woodcock in thick cover. You can find them 
on the stubbles and in the pastures at the right 
time of day, but when you have fired your two 
barrels at them they are off to the corn. The pin- 
nated grouse lie in the corn and on the borders 
of it a good deal too. There was no trouble in 
killing a great number when I first went there. 
I have known sixty young ones to be killed in a 
morning in one field, not more than a quarter of 
a mile from Elkhart. For my part, I am very 
much opposed to such doings. The commence- 
ment of the shooting season ought to be fixed by 
law a month later. When the shooting begins, 
the birds are very young, though of good size, 
and do not fly either fast or far; the weather is 
hot, and I am satisfied that above half of those 
which arc killed are spoiled and never used. At 
the present time the grouse are much more scarce 
about Elkhart, especially young grouse. The chief 
reason is the want of good nesting-places. Except 
in Mr. Gillot's extensive pastures, there arc no 
good nesting-places left of any account. This is 
what causes the great diminution of the numbers 
of pinnated grouse. They are so prolific, and 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 23 

their food h so abundant, tnat they could stand 
shooting in and out of season, and even the trap- 
ping and netting which are so extensively carried on 
in many parts ; but when the prairie 13 all or 
nearly all broken up, no good breeding-places 
remain, and young grouse are not to be found. 
Thus it has been in a great measure about Elk- 
hart. Late in the fall, when they pack and come 
in from the distant prairies where they breed, 
the birds seem to be as plentiful or nearly as 
plentiful as they were before. About the last of 
October and in November you may see as many 
as five hundred in a pack. They are then strong 
and wild. Some people maintain that the pin- 
nated grouse do not migrate from one place to 
another. I am certain that with us they do. 
There are now ten times as many about Elkhart 
in November as there are in September, therefore 
the bulk of them are not bred there. Moreover, 
I have been at Keokuk in Iowa late in the fall, 
and have seen the grouse coming from the interior 
of that State in large numbers, and flying across 
the Mississippi River into Illinois. They are 
never known to do so at any other season, and if 
that is not migration 1 do not know what it can 
be. The river there is so wide that the flight 



24 FIELD SHOUTING. 

across is a long one for a grouse, and I think 
nothing but the migratory instinct would induce 
the grouse to make it, unless it were pressing 
danger. Now they face the danger in order to 
make their migration, for the people shoot at 
them as they fly over the town to cross the 
river, and some are killed. I think they no doubt 
cross the Mississippi at many other points to 
make the cast bank, and no one ever sees them 
return to Iowa. Ducks and geese are not so 
plentiful about Elkhart as they arc on the San- 
gamon. Still their numbers arc very large at times. 
They come out in the evening to feed in the corn- 
fields, and at such times 1 have often killed twenty 
couple, which is a pretty good bag for one gun. 
Snipe are now scarce in the neighborhood of Elk- 
hart. Cultivation and the draining of swamp- 
lands have converted the |)laces which were the 
favorite resorts for snipe into the best wheat and 
corn land in the State. The change of condition 
in the land is the chief cause of the diminution of 
game of various sorts in particular 'places. It has 
more to do with it than all other causes. Al- 
though the pinnated grouse are trapped and netted 
by thousands, as well as shot in a sportsmanlike 
manner, it would not of itself reduce their 1111111- 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 25 

bees so as to be greatly perceptible. Immense 
numbers are sent East which are taken in nets 
and traps. Some are killed by' coming in contact 
with the telegraph wires in their flight. But all 
these causes would be inadequate to reduce the 
stock much if the breeding birds had the nesting- 
places which they formerly used. The grouse 
used to breed in the prairies, commonly along the 
edges of the sloughs. In many parts the prairies 
are nearly all broken up and brought under cul- 
tivation. Many now make their nests in the 
fields of the farmer, and these nests are nearly all 
broken up and destroyed by the ploughing in the 
spring. Quail, whose nests are made in hedges 
and corners of fences and under bunches of bram- 
bles, escape, and we see them increase in numbers 
in the very places where the grouse diminish. A 
great source of destruction to the nests of the 
grouse might be easily prevented. In most places 
there are patches of prairie left for pasture, and 
in these the birds build. Many farmers follow 
a practice of burning these patches over late in 
the spring, under » notion that it improves the 
pasturage by causing the young grass to spring 
up fine and succulent as soon as the weather gets 
warm. When these patches of prairie are burned 



26 K1ELD SHOOTING. 

over, there are commonly many nests in each, 
sometimes scores of them, and they are half-fall 
of eggs. This cuts up the supply of grouse root 
and branch, and reduces the numbers to a serious 
extent every year. It is a great mistake on the 
part of the farmers, for the grouse, by consump- 
tion of grasshoppers and other destructive insects, 
is one of the agriculturist's best "friends, . and the 
grass "would be just as good if the patches of 
prairie were burned over late in the fall, when 
there would be no nests destroyed. It is to be 
hoped that this plan will be adopted for the fu- 
ture ; and I think it will be, for the possession of 
guns and sporting-dogs, and the love of shooting, 
are spreading among the farmers of the West, and 
these, after all, will be in time the most efficient 
preservers of the game. The men, such as my- 
self, who go every fall to shoot in the great un- 
broken prairies which still exist in Ford County, 
Champagne County, and about there, burn the 
grass themselves late in the fall, and thus leave 
nothing to be burned the following spring in nest- 
ing-time. By this means the* stock of grouse is 
fully kept up, and it is from thence the great 
packs migrate towards the last of October and in 
November. Upon this subject I consider mysejf 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 27 

competent to speak. I have had much experience, 
and have conferred with many practical men 
whose experience is nearly or quite as great as 
my own. What I have stated I know to be true. 
No doubt, when the hen-birds have lost their first 
nests by the plough, or by the much more destruc- 
tive burning of the prairie j)atches late in spring, 
they make other nests ; but these also are often 
destroyed ; and if they are not, the broods are 
small and late, and quite unable to take care of 
themselves when the shooting season begins. 

The best spring shooting in Illinois is snipe ; 
and in many parts, such as that on the Sangamon 
River, the birds are found in abundance. I know 
of no better ground for them anywhere. After 
the snipe come the golden plover, sometimes in 
very large flocks. This beautiful and delicious 
little bird stays with us some three or four weeks, 
and the sport they afford is excellent. They 
are commonly shot from horseback, or by means 
of a wheeled vehicle, as is said to be the prac- 
tice in the Eastern States. You must be a 
good sportsman to fill your bag with them, and 
there is no better practice for a good shot than at 
them. After remaining with us about a month the 
golden plover go farther north to breed. The up 



28 FIELD SHOOTING. 

land or gray plover stays with us and breeds in 
Illinois. They flock to some extent, but not in 
such large numbers as the golden plover do. I 
have often seen as many as four hundred or five 
hundred of the latter together, and they sometimes 
fly so close in the pack that a great many can 
be cut down with two barrels when you can get 
within fair distance. After they have scattered and 
run before they fly, the practice at the single 
birds is as good as anything for the education 
of a marksman. The upland plover are more 
open in their flight, as well as in smaller flocks. 
They ought not to be shot at all in the spring 
with us, for they do not arrive from the South 
until about corn-planting time, and then they are 
ready to pair and make their nests. September 
is the proper month to shoot them. They are 
then very fat and delicious for the table. They 
frequent the great pasture I mentioned belong- 
ing to Mr. Gillot. When Miles Johnson of New 
Jersey was in Illinois shooting with me over that 
ground, he said he had never seen such plover 
as those before — that is, for size and fatness — and 
that each of them would fetch half a dollar in 
Boston market. 

Eight or ten years ago the American hare, 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. £9 

commonly called the rabbit, used to abound 
about Elkhart. I and another man, by beating 
the hedges, one on each side, after the first snow, 
when there was about four inches on the ground, 
once killed a hundred and sixty in a day. They 
decreased at one time, but recently they have 
been getting numerous again, and there is now a 
good head of them. The abundance of game in 
any given year depends very much upon the 
breeding season, for there are commonly old ones 
left to raise a good stock. If the spring is warm 
and moderately dry, the broods of quail and 
grouse are large, and the young birds grow up 
strong, so as to be able to fly fast and go a 
good distance when the shooting season begins. 
When the spring is cold and wet, many broods 
are lost through the nests beino; drowned out. 
The broods which are hatched out are small, and 
the young birds have a hard time of it until 
summer begins. The last spring was a very 
favorable one in the AVest, and grouse and quail 
are numerous and strong. Farmers who had seen 
many nests of grouse told me that in most in- 
stances every egg had been hatched out, and in 
June I saw myself as many as twelve young 
grouse in a gang. All the old ones that I ob- 



30 FIELD SHOOTING. 

served had large numbers of young birds, and the 
latter were large and strong. The "Western coun- 
try abounds -with hawks, and these persecute the 
quail, grouse, and duck very much. I have seen 
a bevy of quail in such desperate terror when 
pursued by a hawk that they dashed against a 
house and many were killed. I kill all the hawks 
I can, and often let a grouse go unshot at In 
order to bring down a hawk. There is one bird 
of that order which makes great ravages among 
the ducks. It just kills for the sake of killing, 
for it strikes down one after the other. It is a 
small, long-winged hawk, very muscular and strong, 
and uncommonly rapid in flight. I have seen 
this hawk when pursuing ducks strike one down 
and let it lie, going on after the others, and 
continuing to harass and kill until the prey could 
reach water. This hawk does not consume a 
fourth of the grouse and duck it kills. It is not 
large enough to carry away a good-sized duck, 
and I doubt whether it could fly away with a 
grouse for any distance.^ Eighty miles from Elk- 
hart there is the Winnebago Swamp, a large and 
wild track of water, moss, and cover. Ducks, 
such as mallard, teal, and widgeon, breed there 
in large numbers. J have often flushed them 

# ^U id h v A vv 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 31 

from their nests when I have been snipe-shoot- 
ing thereabout. A few geese breed there also, 
but perhaps these are only those which, owing to 
being wounded or to some accident, have been 
unable to join the great flocks in their spring 
flight towards the North. From what I am told 
by men who have been explorers and hunters in 
the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, no 
matter how far north Indians or white men may 
penetrate, it is found that the geese go farther in 
the summer, and bring back their broods in the 
fall. In this Winnebago Swamp I have occasion- 
ally found the nest of the sand-hill crane, and 
sometimes that of the blue crane. The crane builds 
its nest on the top of a muskrat house, just as 
the geese do in that section. It lays two eggs, 
much larger than those of a goose, especially in 
length, and one of the cranes commonly keeps 
watch by the nest. The nests of the ducks are 
built on tussocks of grass. The Winnebago Swamp 
used to harbor many wolves, and there are a con- 
siderable number there yet. Three years ago, in 
company with a hunter named Henry Conderman, 
I found the den of a she-wolf in the swamp, and 
we took her litter of six whelps. Afterwards we 
trapped the old one. We got thirty-five dollars 



32 FIELD SHOOTING. 

from the county, as it pays a bounty of five dol- 
lars a head. The gray prairie wolf is very de- 
structive of young pigs, lambs, geese, etc., and 
wolves are more numerous in Illinois now than 
most people suppose. Last spring Mr. Gillofc 
took a litter of five whelps in his grove near 
Elkhart. He has a grand wolf-hunt every sum- 
mer. The men who have hounds in the neigh- 
borhood meet, and a small pack is got together, 
with which we hunt the grove, and there is nearly 
always fine sport. Mr. Gillot's daughters have 
fine saddle-horses and are good riders. With 
some other ladies they see the chase from the 
hills, and there is a grand time. Last summer we 
ran three down in the pastures and killed them. 
Another also took to the open, and was killed 
after the hunt was over in one of the pastures 
by Mr. L. B. Dean. Thus there were four ac- 
counted for, all of one litter and about half- 
grown. But the old wolves got away, as they 
usually do, for our hounds are not able to run 
on to an old wolf. They go very fast, keep up 
their lope for a long time, know the ground well, 
and are very cunning as well as fierce when 
cornered or brought to bay. Gray foxes are 
numerous with us. Eagles arc commonly to bo 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 33 

ft 

found along the creeks, and they are sometimes 
very bold. Last winter one made a sudden 
pounce and grabbed a grouse I had just shot. I 
gave him the No. 6 shot from the other barrel, 
and as he was near I expected to see him fall. 
but he got away with the charge without the 
grouse. 

From that which has been stated in this intro- 
ductory chapter, it will be apparent that there is 
no trouble in finding places where good shooting 
may be had. Even where there are no pinnated 
grouse, the sportsman may find plenty of work for 
his dogs and his gun. It is not to be expected 
that, in parts very thickly settled and populated, 
there will be the abundance and variety of game 
which might once be found. Many snipe-grounds 
are now drained, and some are even thickly built 
over. The brakes and thickets which once held 
the woodcock have largely been cut up and 
cleared away. Quail, however, are more nume- 
rous in many States than they ever were before. 
The shooting at them is excellent in most of the. 
counties of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, 
Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Norths 
em Indiana and Michigan are also famous for 
snipe and duck, as Illinois, Iowa. Missouri, and 



34 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Minnesota are. Perhaps the best general shooting 
is to be had in Northeastern Missouri, for there, 
besides grouse, quail, waterfowl, etc., the sports- 
man may come upon wild turkeys and deer, and 
the same is true of some parts of Iowa. Of the 
best places for game in the Eastern States I am 
not so well acquainted, and I shall, therefore, say 
but little about them. This book is mainly to 
relate the results of my own experience, not to 
gather up and adopt what others may know. 



CHAPTER II. 

GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 

I COU/.D never see any use to the shooter in a 
long theoretical or practical description of the 
principles and details of guns as they are made. 
All such knowledge is necessary to the gunmaker, 
but of no practical use at all to the shooter, for 
which reason I shall say next to nothing about it. 
It is no more essential to the marksman or young 
sportsman that he should understand the mecha- 
nism and mode of manufacturing guns, than it is 
that he should determine whether the Chinese or 
Roger Bacon first invented gunpowder before he 
shall fire a shot off. Sportsmen may safely leave 
such matters to the gunmakers, who are nearly 
everywhere a very ingenious, painstaking, trust- 
worthy class of men. There is no handicraft in 
which more care is displayed or more ambition 
felt to excel. The improvements and ingenious 
devices which have so rapidly followed one an- 
other of late years, all proceeding from members of 

35 



30 FIELD SITOOTTNG. 

the art and mystery of gunmaking, establish this 
beyond doubt. There arc plenty of men among 
us who can remember when nothing was in use 
but the old flint-lock gun. They have not forgot- 
ten the misfires which often occurred, when the 
sportsman was left staring after the bird, which 
flew away rejoicing, and impartially distributing 
his curses between the flint, the lock, and the 
priming. The percussion-lock with its detonating 
cap was an immense improvement, and, no doubt, 
suggested the use in the household of the friction- 
matches which have quite superseded the old- 
fashioned tinder-box with its piece of flint and 
steel. Then came the breech-loader, an invention 
of enormous value, and so much improved upon 
since its first discovery and application that upon 
this principle, with various details of construction 
for opening, shutting, and securing the piece at the 
breech, the most convenient, the safest, and the 
best guns in the world are now made. A few 
years ago many good sportsmen would have dis- 
puted this statement, and there are some who will 
do so now. It is, however, founded upon large 
experience and many trials of the breech-loader in 
my own hands, against the most vaunted muzzle- 
loaders in those of other good marksmen find 



GUNS AND THETR PROPER CHARGES. 37 

sportsmen. I was for some time after breeeh-load- 
ing guns came out of a contrary opinion, but 
results convinced me of my error. Results always 
convince reasonable men — that is to say, a great 
preponderance of results. When such a man has 
held a cherished opinion upon what seems to be 
sufficient grounds, he does not abandon it all at 
once because something happens which seems to 
tell against it. He tries the matter again and 
again, and when, after a large number of trials, 
there is a great preponderance of results against 
his preconceived opinion, he changes it. Now the 
fool never changes his. No matter what happens, 
the obstinate blockhead will not admit of change 
in consequence of discovery. His motto is, " What 
I says I stands to ! " 

I first began to shoot with an old musket — flint- 
lock, of course, and probably one of those specimens 
of " Brown Bess " which had been used in wars 
against the French and Indians before the Revolu- 
tion. I was then a boy, and soon found out that for 
the game about Albany County, New York, " Brown 
Bess" would not do. As soon as by hard work 
and careful saving I had got together twenty-five 
dollars (twenty-five dollars was rather hard to get 
in those days) 1 bought a muzzle-loader. It was a 



3$ FIELD SHOOTING. 

cheap gun, and I do not recommend cheap guns; 
but when a man cannot afford an expensive one, 
a cheap gun is a good deal better than none, or 
than an old "Brown Bess" musket. For some 
years after I went to Illinois as well as before, I 
never shot with any but common guns. I killed 
plenty of game, and could always sell a gun when 
it was pretty well worn out for as much as I had 
paid for it. Men looking at the size of the bunch 
of grouse or ducks I brought in, or at the twenty 
brace of quail to which I stinted myself in the 
oak barrens on the Sangamon, thought it was the 
gun which accounted for the success, and were ready 
to buy it. Afterwards I got a Greener gun, one of 
the best muzzle-loaders that I have ever seen. I 
paid one hundred and twenty-five dollars for it, 
and it had but one fault. It weighed seven pounds 
and a half, which is too light for my estimate of 
excellence. It kicked when pretty heavily charged, 
and kept my finger and cheek sore. But it was a 
close-shooting, hard-hitting gun, and when the 
breech-loaders came out I would not have swapped 
it for a hundred of them. I thought they would 
not put their shot regular and close, and that they 
would lack penetration. I have since completely 
changed that opinion. I was then ready to shoot 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 39 

with the Greener gun against any man with a breech- 
loader, and would have laid all the money I could 
raise that I heat him in the field and at the traps. 
I might possibly have done so, for I have never 
yet met a man who could beat me in field-shooting, 
but the breech-loading gun would not have been 
the cause of my opponent's defeat. My opinion of 
breech-loaders now is, that they excel muzzle-load- 
ers in three or four particulars of the very greatest 
importance. Of course I speak of good guns. In 
the first place, they put the shot closer and dis- 
tribute them more evenly than muzzle-loaders do. 
Some sportsmen will say " No ! " I should my- 
self have said No once, and so would several other 
noted marksmen I can name who were afterwards 
convinced by me against their wills, and now nse 
no guns but breech-loaders. A breech-loader will 
also shoot as hard as a muzzle-loader, provided you 
use a little more powder. My breech-loading guns 
have shot harder than any muzzle-loading gun I 
ever tested them against, but I used a dram more 
powder, and of fine quality at that. I think I was 
the first man who ever stepped up to shoot a 
championship match at pigeons with a breech-load- 
ing gun. It was against Ira Paine, on Long Island. 
I was defeated in the match, but it was not the 



40 FIELD SHOOTIXO. 

fault of the gun. I liked that so well that 1 agreed 
to shoot at one hundred birds every day for a 
week against Paine ; each day's match to be inde- 
pendent of the others — a hundred birds each for five 
hundred dollars. We shot the first of the six, but 
as I killed eighty to Paine's sixty-two he paid 
forfeit on the other matches. Since then I have 
used breech-loaders altogether, whether for match- 
shooting or in the field. Besides the superiority 
of their shooting, the quickness of the shots when 
you come upon birds in the field which lie well 
is a very material advantage. The greater ease 
with which the ammunition is carried is another; 
and the cleanliness and complete absence of danger 
in loading is a further great point. Many accidents 
formerlv occurred in the loading; of muzzle-loaders. 
And I must say this for the gunmakers, even 
when cheap muzzle-loaders were in use, not one 
accident in a hundred, in my experience, was ow- 
ing to defects in the barrels of the guns. Of the 
few which burst, nine out of ten were either im- 
properly loaded or the charge had partly shifted 
before the trigger was pulled. The fact is now 
and always was, that the vast majority of acci- 
dents with guns are .not caused by bad guns, but 
by bad handling of guns which are good enough 



GUX8 AXD THEIR TROPER CHARGES. 41 

for anybody's use. Another great thing in favor 
of the breech-loader is its certainty in wet and 
damp weather ; there arc no misfires on that ac- 
count. The first cost of a breech-loader is some- 
what larger than that of a muzzle-loader of equal 
goodness and finish. Formerly the cost of ammu- 
nition made it dearer to use, but the employment 
of metallic cartridge-cases has changed that. They 
can be used over and over again, and I have used 
some above a hundred times. Thus the expense of 
ammunition has been largely reduced. There has, 
too, been a great reduction of late in the price of 
good, strong, exact-shooting breech-loading guns, 
and they will, no doubt, soon supersede muzzle- 
loaders altogether. Many of the superb, highly- 
finished and fitted guns are sold, but if a man can- 
not afford to go to the highest price, he can find 
good serviceable weapons for less money. Still, 
as a good gun will last a man the greater part 
of a lifetime, it is well to buy the best you 
can really afford when you are about the business. 
A serviceable breech-loader can now be got for a 
hundred dollars ; but where you have means pay 
more money for a better finished, and perhaps 
truer and more durable, article. I shoot with 
a gun of ten gauge, thirty-two inches in the bar- 



42 FIELD SHOOTING. 

rels, and ten pounds weight. This is a gun for 
all sorts of uses. It will stop anything that flies 
or runs on this side of the Rocky Mountains, 
if properly charged and aimed. Many may think 
ten pounds too heavy to carry, but the advan- 
tage of a good solid gun in delivery of fire is 
very great. I do not like light guns, neither 
muzzle-loaders nor breech-loaders. The breech- 
loader I am now using was a three-hundred-dollar 
gun, and, considering the prices they were selling 
at when I bought it, was worth the money. It 
has done a great deal of work — much hard work 
— and done it well. I have shot with it twelve 
times in matches against time, undertaking to 
kill fifty birds in eight minutes, and have won 
the money every time. I have also killed with 
it fifty-three out of fifty-four birds in four min- 
utes and forty-five seconds. This was at Jersey- 
ville, Illinois, twenty yards from the trap and 
two birds in the trap. H. B. Slayton was 
present. At New Orleans I killed one hundred 
and eleven out of one hundred and eighteen in 
seventeen minutes and thirty seconds, and picked 
up my own birds. I have shot many other 
matches with this gun, besides using it in a vast 
amount of field-shooting every spring, fall, and 



GUN3 AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 43 

winter. All this work it lias stood well. It has 
never been to a gunsmith-shop to he repaired, 
and is as tight at the breech and as perfect in 
the opening and clasping action as ever it was. 
These facts prove conclusively that there is no- 
thing wrong in the jirinciple of a breech-loader, 
and that, if such a gun is properly constructed, 
it will stand as much wear and tear as a muz- 
zle-loader. I am, however, of the opinion that 
shooting the time-matches has somewhat impaired 
the fine shooting qualities of this gun by mak- 
ing the barrels so hot. I fancy it does not now 
throw its shot so close or distribute it so evenly 
as it did before the barrels were heated in these 
matches. They got so hot that the resin broiled 
out of the soldered joints along the rib, and in 
one instance burned my hand through a buckskin 
glove. To shoot well, a man must have his gun 
so stocked as to fit him. Some require a longer 
stock than others. Some like stocks which 
are nearly straight, while others can shoot with 
a gun the stock of which is crooked. It depends 
mostly on the build of the man. A long-armed 
man does not want a gun with a short stock. 
A man with a moderately long neck cannot use 
a gun which is straight in the stock with ease 



44 FIELD SHOOTING. 

or pleasure. I choose a stock of moderate length, 
and one that is rather crooked — one with a drop 
of about three inches. This sort of a gun comes 
even up to the shoulder with most men, and you 
do not have to crook the neck much in taking 
aim with it. Some people pretend that there is 
no need to look along the rib at the bird in 
order to shoot well. They shoot well, and they 
say they do not do so. I believe they are mis- 
taken. Taking aim does not mean dwelling on 
the aim and pottering about in an uncertain way 
with the gun at the shoulder. Even in snipe- 
shooting there is a distinct aim taken, though, 
when a good-fitting gun is brought up to the 
shoulder, the aim is almost instantaneous, and the 
discharge follows on the next instant. At pigeons 
some men do shoot without sighting the bird ; 
but they know just where the bird must fly 
from, and they have the trick of covering the trap 
by raising the breech and lowering the muzzle as 
if done by a gauge, and then they blaze away. 
Such men often kill the bird before it gets on the 
wing, and this proves that practically they shoot 
at the trap and just beyond it, rather than at the 
bird. This sort of thing is impracticable in the 
field, and there, if not everywhere else, the man 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 45 

"who sights his bird along the rib of his gun, in 
shooting straight forward, makes the best bag. 
There are, of course, some situations in which you 
must practise snap-shooting to get any shooting at 
all. At woodcock in cover, or at grouse and quail 
in corn, you can have but a glimpse of the bird 
you shoot at, and you must aim just where intui- 
tion, as it may be called, tells you the bird will 
be. In cases where the bird can be plainly seen 
it should be distinctly aimed at. It is not a ques- 
tion of quickness. In the time-matches where I 
must necessarily shoot very quick, and in those 
matches where I stand between two traps forty 
yards apart, which are pulled at the same time, I 
sight my bird before I pull the trigger. If I did 
not, I could never accomplish the feats which have 
become easy to me. 

There are still many men prejudiced against 
breech-loading guns, and some who have given 
them a trial remain so. But in most of these 
latter cases the men have either got hold of a poor 
gun, or do not know how to load a good one. If the 
cartridge is not properly filled, wadded, and turned 
down, the shooting will be inferior, no matter 
how good the gun may be or how skilful the 
shooter. Last April I saw a match shot at Frank- 



46 FIELD SHOOTING. 

fort, Kentucky, in which one man used a breech- 
loader and the other a muzzle-loader. As soon as 
they began to shoot I saw that the breech-loader, 
although it was in the hands of the best man of 
the two, would be beaten. And why? Because 
his cartridges were not properly filled. The wads 
on the powder, instead of lying flat and snug, were 
often partly edgewise. It was the same with the 
wads on the shot, besides which the cartridges 
were not well turned down over the wads. The 
shooter who had lost the match blamed his gun, 
which was a light one, and sent for one of ten 
pounds weight, like mine. But if he is as careless 
in loading his cartridges for the heavy gun as he 
was when he had the light one, the shooting will 
not be any better. I could have told him how to 
win, but it was not my business to interfere in 
the matter. The shot in the cartridges should 
have been taken out, the wads sent home true, 
and the ends of the cases turned down close after 
the shot was replaced and evenly wadded. 

The first time 1 visited New York and other 
Eastern States for the purpose of pigeon-shooting 
I spent some days with Miles Johnson, of Yard- 
ville, Mercer County, New Jersey. He is a 
famous pigeon-shooter and an excellent field sports- 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES* 47 

man. Few men, if any, know bettor how, when, 
and where to make a good bag of woodcock, 
snipe, or quail. Now, Miles had a number of 
crack muzzle-loaders, expressly for shooting-matches, 
and he was confident no breech-loader could equal 
them in pattern and penetration. I remarked that 
I had a good gun, and would shoot against him 
and his best muzzle-loader at a target. Miles 
declared with some heat and vociferation that 
" he'd be — " if I could beat him in shooting at a 
target at all, let alone using a breech-loader 
against the most famous of his muzzle-loaders. 
However, taking paper for targets and our guns, 
we repaired to an old barn near Yardville, and 
shot at them. Mr. Nathan Dorsey was present. I 
beat Miles very easily, and with an ounce of shot 
put more pellets in the target from the breech- 
loader than he did with an ounce and a half from 
his muzzle-loader. Miles hardly knew what to 
make of it, but, perceiving that the penetration of 
my shot was also good, he finally acknowledged 
that a good breech-loader would beat any other 
sort of gun in shooting, and he now shoots with 
one himself. And thus it will be found in almost 
every case. When a man has strong precon- 
ceived opinions, it is of very little use to argue 



48 FIELD SHOOTING-. 

with him. The effect ual thing is to show him 
that he is in error by actual demonstration of the 
facts in his presence. Nothing but actual experi- 
ence would have convinced me at one time that a 
breech-loader would shoot as well as, or better than, 
a first-rate muzzle-loader. Now I know the fact. 
I convinced Abraham Kleinman, of Calumet, Illi- 
nois, in the same practical manner. He is, in my 
opinion, the best duck-shooter in the country, and 
one of the best at pigeons from the trap. His 
brothers, John and Henry, are also good shots. 
They had used muzzle-loaders all their lives, and 
could not be persuaded that breech loaders were 
good until Abraham found that I could beat him 
and use one. He then got one himself, and John 
and Henry soon followed his example. Nearly 
all the good shots in Illinois now prefer the 
breech-loading gun. Some held out against it for 
a long time on the ground that it was new — as if 
every good thing which is old had not been new 
itself one time. Not very long ago the percussion- 
lock was new. Again, some people have a pre- 
judice as to breech loaders, believing them to be 
defective in the very points wherein they excel. 
On the seventh and eighth of last April I shot at 
Frankfort, Kentucky, for sweepstakes. All the 



GUNS AND THEIR TROPER CHARGES. 49 

subscribers except myself had muzzle-loading guns. 
It was a wet, damp day, and my opponents 
had got it into their heads that the breech- 
loader would often miss fire in such weather. 
They therefore insisted upon a change in their 
rules so as to provide that when the gun missed 
lire it should be a lost bird, no matter how well 
the gun might have been loaded. I must admit 
that I chuckled inwardlv as I agreed to this 
change. I knew the weather might affect their 
caps, but that it could not impair mine in the 
cartridges. We shot the first day; the muzzle- 
loaders missed fire several times, while my breech- 
loader never missed fire at all. The upshot of it 
was that for the second day's shooting they de- 
manded the repeal of the new rule, so that they 
could have another bird after a misfire, if the 
gun was properly loaded and capped. I could, of 
course, have resisted this demand effectually ; for 
when in such a case action has "begun, there can 
be no change in rules or conditions without the 
unanimous consent of all concerned as principals. 
But I agreed to the change, and won both stakes. 
A good breech-loader will shoot as well in wet 
weather as in fair weather, and there will be no 
misfires on account of damp. But if there is a 



50 FIELD SHOOTING. 

defect ill the action of the plunger, so that it does 
not strike square on the cap, there will be mis- 
fires in any weather. This is a point which needs 
particular attention in the choice of a gun. As I 
said before, 1 shoot with a gun of ten pounds weight 
now, and prefer it much to those of seven and a 
half pounds, with which I used to shoot formerly. 
But some think a gun of ten pounds too heavy to 
carry through a long day and use in all sorts of 
ground. For many a lighter gun would be better 
for woodcock-shooting, and for grouse and quail 
in tall corn. But I would not recommend any 
one to get a gun of less weight than seven and a 
half pounds for general shooting and good service. 
If in choosing a gun you are in doubt concerning 
the weight which will suit you, give the gun 
the benefit of it, and take one a pound 
heavier than you have had before, if it weighed 
seven and a half pounds or less. A man soon 
gets used to the extra pound in the weight of his 
gun, and carries and uses it as easily as he did the 
lighter one, while the shooting of it will be much 
nicer and more pleasant, and the bag of game 
will be larger. The question is one of conve- 
nience, hardly of strength ; for any man fit to 
go into the field at all can carry and use a gun 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 51 

of eight pounds weight. It is true that until men 
have worked themselves into some condition they 
will get tired in tramping over the prairies and 
fields and through the coverts carrying sueh a 
gun, but so they would if they carried nothing 
but a cane. 

In loading a gun of ten gauge for grouse I put 
into my cartridges four and a half or five drams 
of powder and an ounce of No. 9 shot, in the 
early part of the season. Later on I use No. 8 
shot, and still later No. 7. In November and 
December, for the shooting of grouse and duck, 
I charge with No. 6. Some use larger shot for 
ducks, but a charge of No. 6 from a good gun, 
well held, will stop a duck as far off as seventy 
yards sometimes. With a strong charge of pow- 
der and shot of moderate size there is greater 
penetration, and a better chance of hitting besides. 
"When I go out expressly for brant and geese, I 
load my cartridges with No. 2; but when out for 
general shooting, I have killed many brant and 
some geese with No. 6. For quail-shooting I use 
No. 8 or No. 9 ; for plover, No. 8 ; for snipe, 
No. 10. For wild turkeys I once preferred shoot- 
ing with a rifle, but 1 now use the breech-loading 
shot-gun with No. 1 shot in the cartridges. 



52 FIELD SHOOTING. 

With such a gun and ammunition I have killed 
as many as eleven in one forenoon. For field- 
shooting and match-shooting I have hitherto used 
what is called Dead Shot powder, and have found it 
very good. I have, however, since given a thorough 
test to the Orange Powder made by the Laflin 
and Rand Powder Company. I found the Orange 
Ducking and Orange Lightning Powder the best 
for giving penetration that I have used, and as 
good for making pattern as any. I shot it from 
my own gun, and can conscientiously and strongly 
recommend it. They make lower grades of pow- 
der nearly as good, but the sportsman had 
better buy the sorts mentioned. In champion 
matches I use paper cases for the cartridges, and 
put in five drams of powder, with two pink-edged 
wads over it. They must be forced down square 
and level upon the powder with a rammer, but 
not rammed too hard. An ounce and a half of 
No. 9 shot is then put in, evenly placed, and a 
thin wad, or the half of a split pink-edged wad, 
is pressed down firmly and evenly upon the shot. 
The cartridge is then to be turned down smoothly 
and closely on the upper wad. In matches and 
in field-shooting I always have used the shot made 
by Tatham & Brother, of New York, when it was 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 53 

possible to get it. When I shot the championship 
match against Abraham Kleinman, of Calumet, at 
Chicago, there was none of Tatham's shot of the 
right number in the city. Being determined to 
shoot with no other, if I could help it, I tele- 
graphed to Detroit for a bag, and it was sent on 
by express in time for the shooting. I killed all 
•my hundred birds, and only seven fell out of 
bounds. I decidedly prefer No. 9 shot to any 
other number at the trap. For field-shoot- 
ing 1 employ metallic cartridge-cases ; they shoot 
well and are cheap, as they can be used many 
times over. The paper ones shoot a little the 
best, but a bird or two in field-shooting is a mere 
nothing, and metal cases do well enough. I load 
them with five drams of powder and one pink- 
edged wad square down upon it, and the same 
as to the shot. I employ wads two sizes larger 
than the bore of the gun. Thus, for a ten-gauge 
gun, No. 8 wads. This i3 necessary to keep them 
firm, so that the charge may not start in one 
barrel when the other is fired. Even with the 
large, tight wads in the cartridges it is best to 
fire the barrels as nearly alternately as may be. 
It will not do to shoot one barrel four or five 
times with the charge in the other all the while. 



54 FIELD SHOOTING. 

1 believe there is nothing more needful to be 
said concerning guns, ammunition, and loading. 
It will have been seen that I believe in the 
necessity of large charges of good, strong powder 
more than in the efficacy of very large shot. The 
smaller shot, as I believe, are driven at higher 
velocities, and have greater penetration, than larger 
ones. Besides, the number of pellets to the 
weight of the charge is a very material thing. 
The more there are, the more will, in all pro- 
bability, be put into the bird shot at. But, as 
a matter of course, in following this principle a 
man is not to run into extremes and use very 
small shot for large game. On the other hand, 
he is not to be too ready, when the birds are 
not brought to bag, to lay it to the fault of 
small-sized shot. No shot is big enough to stop 
a bird without hitting him; and before changing 
the size of the shot or finding fault with the 
gun, it will be better to endeavor to mend arA 
improve the aim. 



CHAPTER III. 

PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 

The pinnated grouse, commonly called prairie- 
chicken where it is most abundant in the West, is 
a handsome bird, weighing from two pounds to 
two and a half pounds, somotimes nearly three 
when it has reached mature size. It is a delicious 
bird on the table, either when split and broiled 
while young, the flesh being then white, or roasted 
when of full size. It formerly prevailed in New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Long Island, and Kentucky, 
in parts where there were open heaths; but it is 
not now found until the valley of the Mississippi 
is reached. There are none in Ohio, but few in 
Indiana and Michigan ; but it is plentiful in Illi- 
nois, -Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and parts 
of Missouri and Wisconsin. The pinnated grouse 
is a bird of the grassy plains and great prairies, 
and does not frequent the woodland, save on frosty 
mornings, when it may be seen perched on trees 
near the edges of the groves. At such times, too, 
it will be seen perched on fences and corn-shocks. 

55 



50 FIELD -SHOOTING-. 

On such mornings, when the weather is still as 
well as chilly, the grouse may be heard cackling 
and chattering in the timber-land for a consider- 
able distance inwards, but on other occasions 
they never resort to the groves. This bird is 
certainly of much service to the agriculturist, as 
it consumes many grasshoppers and other de- 
structive insects, while the little wheat, corn, and 
oats it cats does not amount to anything by 
comparison. Indeed, its food, before the wheat- 
land is in stubble, is probably wholly composed 
of insects and the buds of heather and other 
plants to be found in the prairies and hi the 
spacious pastures of the West. Before the great 
prairies of Illinois and other Western States were 
broken up by the plough of the settler, the 
grouse were more numerous than they are now, 
and they could not have fed on grain, because 
there were no fields of grain within hundreds of 
miles of them. It is the same now in those parts 
where the prairies are still extensive, and on the 
great pastures where droves of bullocks, hundreds 
strong in number, are flitted for the Eastern mar- 
kets. It is my firm belief, from observations 
made for many years about the time of the 
breeding season, that the pinnated grouse is poly- 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 57 

gamous, like our domestic cocks and hens. I have 
never seen them paired off as quail are. Early 
in the spring the cocks are together in gangs. 
They get on hilly places, swell out their necks, 
and make a booming noise, which can be heard at 
a considerable distance. At this time, too, they 
fight with each other like game-cocks. The hens 
at the same season are to be found in gangs, but 
not on the same ground as the cocks. While 
the latter congregate on the hills the hens remain 
on the prairie, and go into the corn-fields to feed. 
A great deal of corn remains standing all the 
winter in the West, and is not shucked until it is 
time to plough and plant again. The grouse 
mostly roost in the long grass of rich bottom- 
lands. About the last of April and beginning of 
May the hens make their nests. I have found 
one on the tenth of May containing as many as 
eight eggs. The nest is made on the ground, and 
formed of a little grass, and is a good deal like 
that of a domestic hen when she makes one in 
the fields. W T hen the hen-grouse can conveniently 
get to the prairie, they build in that grass. When 
they cannot, they build in the fields, and often 
in patches of weeds. In the bottoms, which are 
generally wet at that season, the nests are made 



58 FIELD SHOOTING. 

on tussocks of thick grass which rise above the 
surface. When the weather happens to be wet 
about the last of May, many nests in the bottom- 
lands are overflowed, and the young which may 
have been hatched mostly perish by cold, starva- 
tion, or drowning. The hens which have had 
their nests destroyed by floods, by prairie-burn- 
ing, or by the plough, commonly build again, but 
their broods are late, and usually of small num- 
ber. The hen lays from twelve to eighteen eggs, 
white in color, and about the size of those of a 
bantam hen. The hen sets twenty-one days, the 
same as barn-door fowl. The young run as soon 
as hatched ; and if a man or a dog should go near 
where they are, they will hide and skulk under 
the grass, even on the first day, while the old 
hen will try to lead the intruder away. They 
feed on insects for the most part, the old hens 
catching them at first for the } r oung chicks. The 
latter, however, soon learn to catch them for 
themselves. As they grow larger, they feed a 
good deal on herbage. The young increase in size 
very rapidly. They are not hatched until early 
in June, at the earliest ; and on the fourth of July, 
in a favorable season, I have seen broods which 
were half grown. The breeding-time varies ac- 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 59 

cording to the season and the situation, but every 
year there are some broods early, some late, and 
some very late, the latter being brought off by 
hens which have lost their first nests. By the 
fifteenth of August some of the broods are about 
full grown ; but they are then tame, and, having 
grown so rapidly, are weak on the wing, and soon 
tire. I believe hybrids have been produced by 
the hen-grouse and the bantam cock. Last spring, 
at Omaha, Nebraska, I saw in the possession of 
Mr. George A. Hoagland, President of the Shoot- 
ing Club, a bird of the preceding year, which had 
been shot out of a covey of seven or eight. This 
bird was believed to be a hybrid. There was 
another of the same brood in the town, and both 
were well stuffed and set up. All the brood were 
alike as to markings and appearance. Their size 
wafl that of a grouse two-thirds grown. In shape 
they were more like the bantam or barn-door 
fowl than the grouse. The ground color of their 
plumage was a dingy white, but they were spangled 
all over with feathers colored and barred like 
those of grouse. That they were hatched by a 
hen-grouse is unquestionable, for she was often 
seen with them. She made her nest close to a 
house, and it was believed that a domestic cock 



60 FIELD SHOOTING. 

was the father of her young ones. Albinos of the 
grouse species are sometimes seen, but those 
above referred to were not at all like Albinos. 
There is a very beautiful specimen of the Albino 
at the Grand Central Hotel at Omaha, and the 
supposed hybrids did not resemble it in the least. 
1 was informed that this brood of spangled grouse 
or hybrids were exceptionally wild. But for all 
that most of them were shot, though but two pre- 
served. These birds are still to be seen at Omaha, 
and it might be well for a scientific naturalist to 
examine them. 

The game-law of Illinois allows the shooting 
of grouse to • commence on the fifteenth of Au- 
gust, and in some States it is suffered to begin 
as early as the first of that month. Both these 
dates are too early. The first of September would 
be quite soon enough, and most sportsmen would 
prefer that date. As the law now stands, nearly 
all begin to shoot early ; for as some will do so, it 
cannot be expected that many others will refrain. 
On the fifteenth of August some broods of grouse 
are full grown, but the great majority are not, 
and many broods are not more than half grown, 
while some are so small as to be almost unable 
to fly. These are the broods of birds whose first 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 01 

nests were broken up in the spring. 1 never 
shoot at these half-callow young, but there are 
plenty of people who do. The early-grouse shooting 
is very good practice for young beginners with 
the gun, as they lie until you are near them, and 
fly slowly. But it would be just about as good 
if the shooting was deferred fifteen days later by 
law, as the birds would still lie close and fly 
slowly. The early shooting makes the birds wild 
before they would otherwise become so, and it 
brings many to the bag half grown that would, 
under other circumstances, be bagged full grown. 
In the early part of the season grouse-shooting in 
the West is the easiest there is. The birds lie 
well to the dogs, their flight is slow, and they 
can usually be marked down near at hand. 
There is, however, one thing which affords pro- 
tection to the grouse, and presents considerable 
difficulty to the shooter. There are commonly 
corn-fields at no great distance, and if they fly 
into the corn when flushed in the stubbles or the 
prairie, it is very difficult to kill them. It is, 
on the whole, better to let them go as not at- 
tainable. Men cannot shoot well in tall corn; 
dogs can do but little in it, even the best of 
dogs, at that season, and young ones arc utterly 



62 FIELD SHOOTING. 

useless, as they can neither see you nor you them, 
and no instructions can be given to them. The 
early season is the time for young beginners, as 
the broods are then numerous and easily found. 
If the shooting was not allowed before September, 
it would answer the purpose of teaching the no- 
vices quite as well ; for though the birds would 
be somewhat stronger on the wing, they would lie 
just as close, and would be larger. After the 
broods have been shot at two or three weeks, 
they are thinned out considerably, and have be- 
come much wilder. They are then of fine size, 
the weather has become cooler, and the birds can 
be kept. At least half of the young grouse killed 
in the month of August become spoiled and are 
never used. Some may doubt this, but I state 
what I know to be facts. In August the weather 
is very often close and sultry ; for though there 
is commonly some air on the wide prairies, the 
breezes do not then prevail. 

At the beginning of the shooting season the 
grouse will be found at early morning in the stub- 
bles. They have gone out of their roost ing-places 
to feed in the stubbles of the wheat and oat fields, 
which have then been pretty well overgrown with 
rag-weed, and afford thick cover. Where flax ia 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 6CJ 

cultivated, you may look for them in the flax 
stubbles, as they are some of their most favorite 
arts. Another good place to beat, whenever 
you see one, is a bean-patch. The navy bean is 
a good deal cultivated in Illinois and Iowa, and 
the grouse resort to the patches. About nine or 
ten o'clock, when the sun has got high and the 
morning hot, the grouse leave the stubbles and 
bean-patches, and walk into the long prairie-grass 
or into the corn. On such days, in clear weather, 
at that season of the year, it is best to give over 
shooting about ten o'clock, and lie by until late in 
the afternoon, when you may pursue your sport 
again with prospects of success, and fill up your 
bag. To continue after the grouse in the middle 
of the day is merely to distress your dogs and to 
fatigue yourself for nothing. There is no scent. 
and the grouse will not lie in the open prairie. 
But on damp, cloudy days the case is altogether 
different. The birds then remain in the stubbles 
all day, unless flushed and driven into the corn ; 
the dogs can work and scent better ; and under 
these overcast skies are the best and most glo- 
rious days of the grouse-shooter in the early part 
of the season. Later in the fall and at the be- 
ginning of winter the habit of the grouse is 



64 FIELD SIIOOTI>.T\ 

different, ar; will be specially noticed further on. 
A cloudy day, cool air, the dogs feeling and 
working "well, plenty of grouse in the stubbles, 
and the sportsman out of the glaring sunshine and 
able to shoot deliberately and well, make great 
enjoyment and a good bag. On the clear days, 
when the grouse have left the stubbles for the 
prairie-grass and corn, instead of shooting all the 
time until you are tired, as 3-011 will be before 
night, until you have been seasoned and got into 
hard condition of muscle and wind, lay off in some 
house, or your camp, or in your wagon in the 
shade, if you can find it, until about four or half- 
past four o'clock in the afternoon. Then it will 
be time to begin to beat the stubbles again. The 
grouse will have come, or will be coming, on to 
them again from the resorts in which they spent the 
hot hours of the day ; and you and your dogs, being 
refreshed and rested, will be in good fettle for the 
sport. The sun will get low, and finally go down 
over the distant swells of land to the westward ; 
the dew will begin, insensibly to you, to fall ; the 
dogs will find the birds easily, they will lie well, 
and you may shoot as long as you can see in the 
twilight. 

In some parts of Illinois, Iowa, and other 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 05 

\\ t'stern States there are very extensive ranges 
of pasture-land, on which great herds of cattle, 
many from Texas, are fattened. These lands have 
not been broken up by the plough at any time, 
but, being regularly depastured, have lost much 
of the prairie character. They remain, however, 
good resorts for grouse, and the shooting over 
them is some of the best to be had. The grouse 
bred on them probably never see a stubble-field, at 
least until after late in the fall of their first year. 
Their habits are the same as those of the birds 
which are found near the arable corn, wheat, 
and oat lands. In the morning they will be 
found on the ridges and knolls where the grass 
is short. In the heat of the day they retire into 
the long grass which abounds in low, moist 
places. In the evening they return to the knolls 
and ridges again. These pastures are sometimes 
of the extent of two thousand acres or more, 
and the shooting on them is second to none in 
those States. Yet they arc comparatively little 
shot over, especially in the early part of the 
season. As a rule, it is believed the grouse are 
more abundant where the land is varied and 
stubbles, pieces of prairie, corn-fields, and patches 
of 'beans arc found in the immediate neighborhood 



66 FIELD SHOOTING. 

of each other. For this reason most of' the 
sportsmen, especially those of the towns near at 
hand, or from the more distant cities, who shoot 
mostly in the early part of the season, go to 
them, and do not attempt the wide pastures. But 
give me the sport on the latter, and let me be- 
gin about the middle of September, when most 
of the grouse bred on them are full-grown, 
strong birds, coming down with a thump seem- 
ingly hard enough to make a hole in the ground 
when killed clean and well. The grouse in these 
places commonly lie first-rate to the dog, and 
get up by twos and threes, so that a good shot 
has a chance to bring to bag many of the 
covey, and those he cannot shoot at the first rise 
may be easily marked down. In 1872 Miles 
Johnson of New Jersey was shooting with me in 
McLean County, Illinois. We camped near Bell- 
flower, and had a man for camp-keeper while 
Miles and I shot. We were out ten days, and 
in that time bagged six hundred grouse, shooting 
only mornings and evenings. As I have said be- 
fore, and wish to impress particularly upon my 
readers for their information and advantage, it is 
of no use to trv for grouse in the middle of the 
day, when the weather is clear, in the early part 



riNJCATED-GKOUSE SHOOTING. 67 

of the fall. The best day Miles Johnson and I 
had that lime was in one of the great pastures 
1 have alluded to above. It eontaincd from 
tiw to ten thousand acres. We went into it 
early in the morning, and came out about eleven 
o'clock in the forenoon with eighty full-grown 
grouse. That was a capital morning's sport, no 
doubt, but I have often had as good. 

While we were at the camp near Bellflower we 
were visited by Johnson's friend, Mr. Eldridge 
of New Jersey. With him came Dr. Goodbreak of 
Clinton, Illinois. The doctor is an army surgeon 
and an ardent and excellent sportsman. They shot 
with us two days, using muzzle-loaders ; but when 
Dr. Goodbreak had seen the execution I did with 
my breech-loader, sometimes getting two or three 
nice shots while one was loading, and often killing 
a long way off, he was satisfied as to which was 
the best style of gun, and sent an order for a 
breech-loader to cost three hundred and fifty dollars. 
After being there ten days Miles Johnson left for 
home. I remained at the camp, and in a while 
A. Leslie and H. Robinson of Elkhart came up 
and shot with me. It was then getting late in 
the fall, and we had excellent success. The grouse 
Mere wild and very fast on the wing. They were 



68 FIELD SHOOTING. 

strong, and it took good shooting and hard hit- 
tins to brine: them to the bag. I killed from ten 
brace to twenty brace a day, and averaged about 
fifteen brace. My companions together did not 
secure as many. In shooting grouse on the pas- 
tures, and indeed anywhere, you should beware 
of shooting too soon. M»any more birds are 
missed at short than at long shots, in my opin- 
ion. The sudden, loud whirr made by the rising 
of the grouse when it gets up startles young 
sportsmen, and some nervous, excitable old ones 
too. The shot is hastily delivered, while the 
bird is so near that the charge has not distance 
enough to diverge and spread in, and the game 
is often missed. If the shooter had waited for 
steady sight of the bird along the rib, which is 
not to be a slow, pottering aim, it would have been 
often brought down. In McLean County, Ford 
County, and the others of the tier on that line, 
there is as good grouse-shooting as any I know of 
anywhere in Illinois. They are in the section of 
country lying southwest of Chicago, and a line 
drawn from that city to St. Louis in Missouri 
would pass through them. As good places as 
any to get off the railroad at are Bellfiower in 
McLean County, and Gibson in Ford County. 



PIXN'ATED-G ROUSE SHOOTING. 09 

Twelve miles from Gibson is the great farm of 
Mr. Michael Sullivant, formerly of Columbus, 
Ohio. He has a tract of land containing forty- 
live thousand acres. It is a splendid place to 
shoot, and real sportsmen are made welcome by 
the owner. I was there last spring after brant 
and ducks, and made heavy bags. I saw at that 
time large numbers of grouse — a powerful breed- 
ing-stock. 

In shooting over the great pastures I have men- 
tioned particular care must be taken not to go 
near the herds of cattle. They are pretty wild, 
and the coming near them of dogs makes them 
excited. hi the first place, the farmers do not 
like to have dogs taken near their cattle, and 
every good sportsman should carefully avoid do- 
ing anything which may annoy the owners' of the 
land on which he may be. I can always get 
along pleasantly with the owners of the land, and 
so may any one else who will use them well and 
refrain from damage. In the second place, if 
shooting parties go near the great herds of cat- 
tle with their dogs, the bullocks will come for 
the latter at a run in a big drove, the fright- 
ened dogs will run to their masters, and before 
the men can get out of the way of the furious 



70 FIELD SHOOTING. 

rush they may be knocked down, trampled over 
by scores of hoofs, and very likely killed. When 
shooting in these vast pastures, I take care to 
give the herds a wide berth, and keep well away 
from them. Even then they will sometimes begin 
to move towards the dogs, in which case I put 
the setters or pointers, as the case may be, into 
the buggy as soon as possible, and drive off out 
of the sight of the herd. In shooting grouse in 
Illinois, Iowa, and the other prairie States, the 
sportsman should take water in his buggy or 
wagon for himself and his dogs. The prairies 
arc very spacious, the water-courses wide apart, 
the droughts sometimes Ions? and severe. If he 
thinks to find water in natural places for him- 
self and his dogs, which need it oftener and 
more than he, they will be very thirsty before 
he reaches any. If he comes to a house at such 
times, he will find that water is the most scarce 
and precious thing about the place. The well is 
all but dry. The farmer's horses are on short 
allowance. His milch cows arc stinted, and stand 
lowing round the empty trough at the well half 
the night long. The people sometimes, in very 
dry seasons, have to haul water from a distance, 
us their own wells become dry, and their cattle 



PINWATED-OKOUSB SIIOOTINO. 71 

and horses must be provided for. In this state 
of affairs it cannot be expected that the people 
Will furnish half a bucket of water for a stranger 
or two and the dogs. Therefore when you 
start out from house or camp, take in your 
buggy or wagon a five-gallon jug of water as a 
thing of prime necessity. 



CHAPTER IV. 

LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 

Jn the preceding chapter I have described the 
places and times to seek the pinnated grouse in 
the earlier part of the shooting season, and pointed 
out the methods of hunting for them by means of 
which satisfactory success is most likely to be ob- 
tained. "We now come to the latter part of the 
season, the months of October and November, 
with that of December ; for the resolute and hardy 
sportsmen who care nothing for cold and wet 
may sometimes prefer a bag of winter grouse to 
one of duck or brant. In the month of October 
the prairies have become brown, and later on the 
corn will have been wilted by the early frosts, 
if it has not been already. Some of the best 
shooting of the year, to my mind the very best, 
is now before the s]3ortsman ; but it needs work, 
and young beginners will not find the grouse so 
easy to kill as they were in August and Septem- 
ber. In the early part of the season the best 
shooting hours were early and late in the day. 

72 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 73 

Now it is the reverse ; the middle of the day is 
the proper time. When I first came to Illinois, 
the grouse in October and later were mostly 
found in the prairie-grass. There has now been a 
change in their habits, and they seem to like best 
to lie in corn. I suppose the reason was that as 
prairies were much broken up, and the quantity 
of land in corn rapidly increased, the grouse found 
out that the lying in the corn was excellent, and 
the habit was soon formed. In the corn there is 
a great plenty of various kinds of food. The 
ground is mellow and affords excellent dusting 
places. In the West wheat is often sowed while 
the corn is still standing, being put in with a 
cultivator-plough. These wheat-fields in the corn 
are favorite places with the grouse, and 1 have 
many a time killed eighteen or twenty in one 
such field. Also, when wheat is sowed out upon 
the prairie, grouse will go to those fields at early 
morning. When the sun gets high, they will go 
into the prairie-grass, round the edges of the 
young wheat, and lie there all the middle of the 
day. Then there is nice shooting. At four or 
five o'clock, towards evening, the birds will go 
out upon the young wheat-fields again. This is in 
clear weather. On cloudy days the grouse stay 



74 FIELD SHOOTING. 

on the wheat, the bare places of the prairie, 
and on ploughed land all day, and it is of no use 
to go after them. You may just as well stay in 
your tent or house as go after grouse, for you 
cannot get near them. If there are quail in the 
neighborhood, you may have sport with them. 
In only one way can grouse be shot late in the 
fall in cloudy, overcast weather, and it is hardly 
worth while to employ that. You may drive up 
in a buggy, as we do in plover-shooting, and so 
get near enough, but it is more trouble than the 
game you will kill is worth, and I never do 
it. I may say here that those who go out shoot- 
ing in the prairie States need to have a wagon or 
buggy with them. It may be done without, but 
the work is very severe. The prairies are very 
wide, and it is a good way from one favorable 
point to another. When I first went to Illinois, 
seventeen years ago, I used to start out in the 
morning, on foot, and shoot all day. I used no 
dog at all then, and had but a poor, light gun, 
which did but little execution, though I shot 
middling well. When I had got about seven 
or eight grouse, I used to hide them and mark 
the place, to be taken up on my way back. 
With this gun I speak of and common pow~ 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 75 

dor I have often shot away a pound of the 
latter to get twenty-five or thirty birds. I fol- 
lowed, in those days, the example of other 
people, and used shot several sizes larger than 
was necessary or proper. At that date we used 
No. 1 or No. 2 in October and November, and I 
believe I was one of the first to discover that with 
No. G, from a good gun, with a strong charge of 
powder, the biggest cock-grouse that ever flew 
could be brought to the bag. At the end of my 
day's shooting at that period I used to have to 
carry twenty-five or thirty grouse as well as the 
gun for four or five miles, sometimes further. 
This was no small matter. 

The October shooting of grouse, good as that 
is, may be excelled, according to my notions, by 
that in November. They generally lie in the 
corn among the tumble-weed, so called from its 
growing up and rolling over so as to form snug 
cover ; and they are especially fond of lying in 
the sod-corn, which is that grown upon the land 
the first crop after the prairie is broken up. This 
sod-corn does not grow up tall, as the corn on 
older-tilled land does. In November the blades 
of the corn are hanging down, wilted by the 
frost. The stalks are shrunk. The dogs can 



76 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



work in it, and you can see to shoot in it. But 
it takes good shooting to make good bags. The 
birds are now at full growth and strength. They 
have in all probability flown the gauntlet of 
many guns, and the weaker ones have been 
thinned out of the packs. But on clear days 
they lie well to the dogs, and, being swift and 
strong on the wing, when they rise the sport 
afforded is capital. One of the best days I ever 
had was in November, near Farmer City, Cham- 
pagne County, Illinois. I was accompanied by 
Mr. Nathan Doxie, of Geneseo, a keen sports- 
man and good shot. At that time he shot with 
a muzzle-loader, while I used a breech-loader. It 
was a clear, bright day, warm for the time of 
year. We beat the sod-corn, of which there 
was a great deal in the neighborhood, and, when 
the birds flew out into the adjoining prairie, we 
could mark them down. Our bag was a very 
heavy one. I killed fifty-seven grouse and Mr. 
Doxie knocked over eighteen, making seventy- 
five fine fat birds in all. Mr. Doxie said it was 
the first time he had ever been beaten in the 
field. There was another person shooting near 
us all day, but he did next to nothing, killing 
but five grouse, as I remember. I have shot 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 77 

with many men in the month of November, and 
good shots too, but never one that I did not 
beat. 

Three times in the course of my experience in 
field-shooting I have killed ten grouse with two 
barrels. Once in Menard County, near Salt Creek, 
late in November, I came upon a plank fence 
in a light snow-storm. It happened that there 
was a grapevine growing thickly over part of 
the fence, and, getting this between me and the 
birds, I secured a pretty close shot. They were 
scattered along the fence for a distance of about 
ten yards. With the first barrel I killed nine, 
and with the other one. Another time I got a 
shot at a lot near a fence, and killed ten with 
two barrels. And once in Logan County -I got 
within shot of about twenty birds which wero 
in short grass, and killed ten with both barrels. 
Such shots as these are very seldom to be got. 
A man may shoot half a lifetime and never 
meet with one. I have often, in the early part 
of the season, killed a grouse with each barrel 
out of a pack which rose near me, and then 
slipped in another cartridge, and killed a third. 
But this is only to be done when they are lazy 
and flv slowlv, and it cannot be done then unless 



78 FIELD SHOOTING. 

the shooter is very quick. Some men say that 
I am slow because I will not shoot until I have 
sighted the bird; but I think these sort of field- 
shots and my time-matches at pigeons are suffi- 
cient to prove the contrary. I believe I am as 
quick as anybody 1 ever met, but I will not lire 
at random, and I advise the reader never ta do 
so. Late in the fall, when grouse get up a little 
wild, and fly swiftly, it takes good shooting and 
hard hitting to kill them. Sometimes in No- 
vember, on a clear day and rather warm, they 
lie close, and get up one after the other after 
the first of the pack have gone. There are 
always some lying scattered from the body of 
the pack, and as one falls down, fluttering its 
wings, another will rise, sometimes two. On such 
occasions the immense superiority of the breech- 
loader over the old sort of gun becomes mani- 
fest. I have been at such a time shooting with 
a man Who used a muzzle-loader, and have 
actually stood in my tracks and shot six grouse 
while he. was loading his gun. The grouse will 
sometimes lie so close on a clear day in Novem- 
ber that they will remain hidden until you are 
within ten yards of them, and then get up with 
a tremendous whirr of wings. It is things of 



LATE PINNATED-GROUPE SHOOTING. 79 

this sort that sportsmen will be glad to know 
and what 1 state is drawn from experience solely 
At the same season of the year, if the weather is 
cloudy and damp, the birds arc so wild that 
you cannot get near them ; and to try is to lose 
your time and labor for nothing. The Indian 
Summer is a good time for shooting grouse, and 
very pleasant for the sportsman. The sun has 
not the scorching power which you feel in August 
and the early part of September ; but it is warm, 
the air soft and still, and not very hazy — rather 
like thin, white smoke scattered from a great 
distance. The birds feel comfortable in the 
dead grass of the prairie or among the sod-corn. 
They are fat and lazy, and hate to get up until 
compelled to do so. Any clear, warm day late 
in October or in November is just as good as 
an Indian Summer day. At this season it is 
useless to go out before the dew is off the grass; 
whereas in the earlier part of the shooting the 
more you get into the thick of it at early morn- 
ing, the better for you. The prairies are hand- 
some in the fall of the vear, but not so beautiful 
as in the spring, when the grass is about six 
inches high and full of wild flowers. The wea- 
ther is fine, the air pleasant and fragrant. The 



80 FIELD SHOOTING. 

cock-grouse which have flown out of the bottoms 
at early day are heard booing on the knolls and 
ridges. Hawks of various kinds, large and small, 
are wheeling about overhead, and far away, high 
up in the distance, you may see the great eagle cir- 
cling and sailing round about with motionless wings. 
But of all the sights I have seen on the prairies, 
the finest, the most striking and glorious, have 
been on bright, frosty mornings in December, or 
later on in the winter sometimes. On such a 
morning, while the frost still hangs on the grass, 
the prairie looks like a wide sea covered with 
sprays . of diamonds. The most beautiful sight I 
ever saw in my life was on a prairie at Oliver's 
Grove, near Chatsworth, Iroquois County, Illinois. 
We went in the night to Chatsworth, where there 
was no house then, intending to hunt turkeys at 
Oliver's Grove at early morning. As there was 
no house at Chatsworth Station, we stayed in the 
car till daylight. It was a bright, clear morning 
in December, and the sun, just risen, lit up all 
the prairie with its horizontal, glancing rays. 
Every blade of grass on the prairie, every tree in 
distant grove, glistened and sparkled like diamonds 
in strong light. Away in the distance, five hun- 
dred yards out upon the prairie, there stood two 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 81 

deer, motionless and beautiful, we might almost 
have thought lifeless, they looked so strange in 
that wonderful scene ; only we could see the breath 
streaming from their nostrils into the cold, frosty 
air. For dazzling radiance and strange beauty, I 
never before saw such a prospect, and may per- 
haps never see quite the like again. After a while 
the deer walked leisurely of£ into the long grass 
and brush near the slough to lie down in cover. 
The game we came for were not to be found, and 
when we discovered this we turned to leave. I 
said to my partner, " We have been disappointed 
in our hunt, but in coming on it we got a glori- 
ous and beautiful sight — one not to be forgotten 
as long as we may live." 

He was a very practical sort of man, and 
replied, "I had a good deal sooner have got a 
dozen fat turkeys." 

On our way back to Onarga across country 
we had to walk fourteen miles. There were many 
buckwheat-stubble patches along the prairie in our 
way, and we took them on our road to walk up 
the grouse. "We did not diverge to the right or 
left to follow those which went away, but, keeping 
right ahead, got about twenty brace by the time 
we reached Onarga. Although there were no 



82 FIELD SHOOTING. 

turkeys about Oliver's Grove just then, it was a 
good place for them, and from what I saw there 
must have been lots of deer in the neighborhood. 
In regard to grouse-shooting late in the fall of 
the year, there is one thing which should be par- 
ticularly observed. It is the necessity of silence. 
There should be very little or no talk indulged 
in between those who are on the beat. In the 
earlier part of the season it does not much matter 
what talk there is, though I am one of those who 
can stand a good deal of silence, when hunting, 
at any time; but late in the fall talking makes 
the grouse get up out of distance. They will rise 
at the sound of the human voice at that season of 
the year sooner than they will at the crack of the 
gun. If two men go along talking and gabbling, 
as I have seen and heard them do, the grouse 
will nearly all rise out of shot, while they would 
have lain long enough to have afforded many fair 
shots if silence had been preserved. In order not 
to be obliged to talk and call to my dogs at such 
times, I have them broken to hunt to the whistle 
and the motion of the hand. I have had some 
dogs that would hunt all day and never make it 
necessary to speak to them. I have been out with 
men who would talk in spite of remonstrances 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 83 

against it. Either they did not believe it would 
scare up the birds, or it was not in their power 
to keep silent for half an hour at a time. There 
are, indeed, some people who never seem to bo 
silent except when asleep, and very likely not 
then if dreams come over them. On these talk- 
ing occasions late in the fall I have always noticed 
that we got very few grouse. Sometimes when 
I have believed a pack of grouse to be all up, I 
have spoken a word or two to one of the dogs, 
when two or three more birds have risen right 
away. Another thing to be noted is this : when 
you are shooting grouse late in the fall, and the 
dog brings in a wounded one which nutters his 
wings, all the others within hearing will get up. 
That sound sets them on the wing as a man's 
voice does, when they lie close at the loud report 
of the gun. I am not able to explain w r hy this is, 
but so it is. There are many facts in nature in 
regard to the habits of game which the sportsman 
must accept, though he cannot arrive at the 
reason of them. 

At one time in Illinois there was a difference 
as to the period at which grouse-shooting should 
cease. It was left to the counties. In Logan 
Countv and some others it was fixed for the first 



84 FIELD SHOOTING. 

of January. In other counties where the grouse 
abounded to the degree that the farmers thought 
they consumed too much of the crop, there was 
no close-time in January, February, and March. 
I do not think grouse ever do any appreciable 
damage to the crops. What grain they eat would 
be otherwise wasted. They may, however, do 
some little harm by consuming seed-wheat just 
after the sowing. They bite off and eat the blades 
of young wheat, but that often does more good 
than harm, and farmers sometimes turn calves 
into young wheat-fields to feed it off. The biting 
off done by grouse in the earlier stages has a 
tendency to make it stool well, I think. It is cer- 
tain that the pinnated grouse does the farmer good 
by consuming grasshoppers and other insects which 
are troublesome and destructive. The law of Illi- 
nois in regard to shooting grouse is now uniform 
all over the State. The shooting ceases on the 
fifteenth day of January. Thus the shooting lasts 
five months. I am in favor of lopping off fifteen 
days at the commencement, making it September 
1 instead of August 15, and another fifteen 
days at the end, making it cease on the first 
of January. It would then last four months. But 
the duration of the shooting-time is- not of so 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 85 

much importance as many people think. More 
are taken by trapping late in the season. To see 
the huge loads of grouse sent by railway to Chicago 
and on for the Eastern market, one would be at first 
inclined to suppose that the species must soon be 
extirpated ; but this is an error. With good breed- 
ing-places and a fine spring the number of grouse 
produced is incalculable. No amount of fair 
shooting makes much impression on game in a 
good game country. In places where the game is 
sparse, as it appears to me to be in the Atlantic 
and Eastern States, save water-fowl on the sea-board, 
many guns may shoot so close that the proper 
head for a breeding-stock will not be left. It 
is altogether different with us. I went once to 
Christian County, Illinois, and shot round about the 
little town of Assumption from February 1 to 
May 20, the latter part of the time being on 
snipe. The game of all sorts was amazingly 
abundant. There was a great plenty of grouse and 
quail, and the number of ducks and geese was 
almost past belief. It is a varied sort of coun- 
try with a good deal of low, wet ground, much 
prairie and much corn-land, and a great deal of 
hazel-brush along the creeks and on the edges of 
the groves of timber. It is a splendid country for 



80 FIELD SHOOTING. 

game. I killed six thousand head of all sorts while 
there — the most part, of course, being duck, snipe, 
and golden plover. The grouse were extremely 
abundant in the spring about there. At early 
morning the cock-grouse could be heard booming all 
over, like the constant lowing of an immense herd 
of cattle distributed in a great pasture. It is hardly 
necessary to say that the booming of the grouse is 
not like the lowing of bullocks; what 1 mean is 
that the booming on every side pervaded the space 
all around. Christian County is about thirty miles 
southeast of Springfield, and is on the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad. At this time I hold the best place 
for sport of all sorts in the field to be in the 
tier of counties which includes Ford, Piatt, McLean, 
and Champagne Counties, as well as Christian 
County. Late in the fall, however, good grouse- 
shooting is to be met with all over the State, un- 
less it be down southwest in Egypt, where there 
is but little prairie-land. As I have stated, great 
numbers of grouse are bred in the wide prai- 
ries which are still unbroken, and late in the 
fall these grouse pack and distribute themselves 
over the other parts of the State in vast numbers, 
feeding in corn-fields and wheat, oat, and buckwheat 
stubbles. Where I livo the grouse arc nearly as 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 87 

abundant in the latter part of the fall now as they 
were seventeen years ago. Perhaps I might say 
quite as abundant ; but there is not anything 
like as many young grouse to be found in that 
neighborhood in August and September as there 
used to be. As long as the breeding-places re- 
main it is safe to conclude that there will never 
be a scarcity of grouse in Illinois and the other 
prairie States. But though they arc nearly as 
numerous, they are more difficult to kill than for- 
merly. The young birds find the great corn-fields 
a place of safe refuge ; and when the packs come in 
from the great prairies late in the fall, they are 
Avild and swift. To get good sport the observa- 
tions I have made as to weather, the best hours 
of the day at the different seasons, and so on, 
should be carefully heeded. The burning of pieces 
of prairie late in the spring should be avoided, and 
it can easily be done. Let the grass be burnt the 
preceding fall, or, which is perhaps still more desira- 
ble, early in the spring. In the latter case the grass 
would have ' sprung up in places high enough to 
hold the nests before the hen-birds wanted to form 
them, besides which there are always many places 
untouched by the fire, and these spots would be 
chosen by the grouse to make their nests in. By 



88 FIELD SHOOTING. 

leaving the grass unburnt through the winter the 
birds would be afforded a protection in that season 
against their enemies — the various sorts of hawks, 
which are very numerous in the prairie States. 
The great source of mischief is the burning of the 
grass after the nests are made. I hope the farm- 
ers will follow my suggestions on this point. They 
are commonly ready to oblige sportsmen, and the 
latter should avoid anything which may cause an- 
noyance while in pursuit of game. 



CHAPTER V. 

QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 

The beautiful little game-bird of which I am 
now about to write is well known in almost all 
pacts of the country. It is a welcome visitor 
about the homesteads of the farmer in the win- 
ter season, and makes pleasant the fields and 
brakes in spring and summer. Quail are now 
very abundant in the Western States, much more 
so, I believe, than in those of the Atlantic sea- 
board, although they are found in considerable 
numbers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and Virginia. They are much more nu- 
merous now in Illinois and the other prairie 
States than they were formerly. I think the cul- 
tivation of the land and the growth of Osage 
orange hedges have brought about the increase. 
The hedges furnish excellent nesting-places, and 
are also of great use to the quail as places of 
refuge and security when pursued by hawks. The 
latter are very hard on quail. Quail like the 
neighborhood of cultivated land, and where they 

89 



90 FIELD SHOOTING. 

are not much shot at they will get so tame as 
to come right up to the house and barn. They 
used to have a very hard time of it in Illinois 
in severe winters. There was no protection from 
hawks, by which they were constantly harried and 
destroyed ; and there being next to no cover, they 
used to be frozen to death in bevies. When the 
snow melted, the skeletons and feathers would be 
found in groups of eight or ten. The hedges 
now afford very great protection in severe wea- 
ther, and preserve the lives of thousands which 
would otherwise certainly perish of cold and 
starvation in their absence. They break the force 
of the wind, and furnish snug-lying places for the 
birds in hard weather. In soft snow quail com- 
monly manage to do very well in the open. 
When pursued by hawks at such times, they dart 
under the snow, and lie safely hid from their 
voracious enemies. I have seen them do this 
hundreds of times, and have rejoiced at their 
escape from the talons of the swift and perse- 
vering foe. In two or three instances I have 
walked up and caught the quail which had thus 
dashed into the yielding snow by hand. The 
quail is a very interesting bird about breeding- 
time, and the soft, whistling note of the cock is 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 91 

one of the pleasantest things that strike the ear in 
the fields in spring-time. They pair with us about 
the first of May. I have seen them together in 
bevies as late as, or later than, the middle of April. 
They build their nests along the hedges and near 
old fences overgrown with brush and brambles. 
They resort but little to the groves of timber 
for breeding purposes, avoiding them, I think, on 
account of egg-sucking vermin, such as skunks and 
crows. Crows are bold, cunning, and persistent 
robbers of the nests of other birds. Minks catch 
the old hens on the nest, and raccoons do the 
same. But the most destructive and inveterate 
enemy the quail has is the little hawk, called 
with us the quail-hawk. This little bird of prey 
is but a trifle larger than a quail himself, but it 
is very fierce and strong, swift on the wing, and 
darts upon its prey with electric speed. The nest 
of the quail is round, nicely constructed of small 
twigs, and lined with dead grass. I have seen 
statements to the effect that they are covered 
over on the top. I have found hundreds of them, 
and never saw one that was. The. hen lays from 
twelve to fifteen eggs, but two hens sometimes 
lay in one nest, and I have seen one in which 
there were no less than thirty eggs. The hen- 



93 FIELD SHOOTING. 

quail does not seem to be very particular at times 
about having a nest of her own. I have known 
them to lay in the nests of pinnated grouse, and in 
those of barn-door fowl which had made their nests 
in hedges or bunches in weeds in fence-corners. It is 
always easy to learn when quail are breeding in the 
neighborhood, for at such times as the hen is laying 
or sitting the cock perches on a fence, a stump, 
or an old cormstock, and whistles for joy. The 
note seems to express great satisfaction and de- 
light. The young quail are no sooner hatched 
than they are active and ready to follow their 
mother. The latter is very watchful, attentive, 
and devoted, ready to risk her own life to afford 
a chance of safety to her offspring. If a man or a 
dog approaches the whereabouts of her young brood, 
the mother simulates lameness, and flutters about 
as if in a crippled condition, to lead the intruder 
another way. The early broods come off about 
the middle of June, when, the spring being for- 
ward, the birds have paired early. I saw young 
quail and young grouse this year myself in the 
middle of June. It is my impression that when 
the season is early and other circumstances favor- 
able, the hen-quail raises two broods. I have 
often seen early broods under the care of the 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 93 

cock, and I think the hen was then sitting again. 
Furthermore, later in the year bevies of quail 
will be found in which there are manifestly birds 
of two sizes besides the old ones. These bevies 
must be made up of young quail of different ages. 
I am not certain as to the hen bringing forth a 
second brood while the first is under the care of 
the cock, but I state the facts I have seen for 
what they are worth. There is nothing improba- 
ble, to my mind, in the raising of two broods a 
year. The hen-quail is very prolific of eggs; 
food is abundant and stimulating at the breed- 
ing season ; the weather is commonly steadily 
fine when the first brood is brought off, and the 
cock-bird is abundantly able to take care of it. 
In the State of Illinois quail-shooting begins on 
the first of October. I think the law ought to 
be changed so that it should not commence 
before the fifteenth of October. On the first of 
October some birds are full grown, but it is 
otherwise with the great majority of the young 
birds. Quail are a little slower in growth than 
pinnated grouse, and it is not before the fif- 
teenth of October that most of the birds are 
large, strong, and swift of wing. In Ohio, Indi- 
ana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other 



94 FIELD SHOOTING. 

wheat-growing States, there is very fine quail- 
shooting sooner in the season than there is in 
Illinois. With us the best shooting cannot be 
enjoyed until late in the fall. Before that time 
the immense corn-fields enable the quail to get 
the best of the sportsman. As soon as a bevy 
is flushed away it goes for the corn, which is 
thick, broad in the blade, and very high. 1 
stand six feet in height, and I have seen stalks 
of Illinois corn so tall that I could but just reach 
the lowest ears upon them. There is no making 
headway and filling the bag in such fields as 
these ; and the moment the quail arc flushed on 
the wheat and oat stubbles away they go for 
the corn. You may give them up as soon as 
they reach this tall, thick, and dense cover. If 
you make an attempt at them in it, they will 
not rise above the tops, so that you cannot see 
to shoot ; besides which, the thickest spread of 
the broad blades is just about as high as your 
head, and above it. It is not until good, sharp 
frosts have well wilted the blades and caused them 
to hang down lifeless along the stalk that there 
is a good chance at the quail in such places. 
As long as the leaves wave crisp in the autumn 
wind the quail may defy the shooter. Therefore 



QUAIL-SHOOTIUG IN THE WEST. 95 

the best of the shooting is in November and De- 
cember. Yon must be up by dawn of day, and 
scatter the hoar frost or the sparkling dew as you 
g& to your chosen grounds. In a country where 
there are many stubbles, many corn-fields, and 
much hazel-brush the quail delight, and there, 
on such a morning, as soon as the sun has risen 
over the swells of the prairies to the eastward, 
they will be found in abundance. They roost 
along the margins of sloughs in long grass, in 
stubbles where the rag-weed is thick and strong, in 
patches of brush, and along hedge-rows. Where 
there arc corn-fields along the margin of sloughs, the 
quail are fond of roosting in the edges of the 
corn. As soon as the sun touches the frost on the 
corn and grass and the weeds of the overgrown 
stubbles, the quail begin to run from their roost- 
ing-places. At the early hours, when they are 
first on the move, is the best time for the dogs 
to find them, as the scent is then very good. When 
they arc really plentiful, they may be easily found 
in any weather, but most easily on a fine, clear day, 
early in the crisp, cool air of the bright, frosty 
morning. When a bevy is flushed in such weather 
as this, they scatter at once, and when they pitch 
down they lie there hid under the first bunch of 



06 FIELD SHOOTING. 

grass or weed or any other bit of cover they can 
find for the purpose of concealment. With good 
dogs you can then take them one after the other. 
When a bevy has been flushed, and the birds have 
scattered about and pitched down in this way, I 
have often killed from six to ten before picking 
any up. I was once shooting in Mason County, 
Illinois, late in the fall, and flushed a very large 
bevy of quail from a wheat-stubble. They scat- 
tered and flew over into a piece of prairie-grass, 
where they pitched down. I knew they would lie 
very close, and so they did. They got up one 
and two at a time, and out of the Levy I accounted 
there and then for seven brace and a half. Quail 
pack late in the fall, and in Mason County at that 
time there were bevies of thirty or forty in num- 
ber. In damp or wet weather quail act in a dif- 
ferent manner when flushed and scattered. At 
such times, instead of lying where they pitch 
down, they run a long distance. And then when 
the dog has winded them, and is about to point, 
or has pointed, they start and run on again. Under 
such circumstances it is difficult to make a good 
bag. It was mainly in such weather that the net- 
ting of quail was carried on. This bad practice is 
now unlawful. I saw great numbers caught with 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 97 

nets in Missouri. AYhole bevies were taken at 
one fell swoop, the quail being driven into the 
wings of the net by men on horseback. It is a 
very good thing that this destructive practice has 
been prohibited by law, and is now wholly done 
away with. As long as it was lawful the farmers 
on whose land it was practised did not like to 
interfere ; but now they do interfere, and netting 
in Illinois and Missouri has practically ceased and 
come to an end. When it was lawful, two netters 
were harder on the quail than about two hundred 
shooters, although at that time some of the latter 
who were apt to miss a bird on the wing would 
lire at bevies of quail on the ground. This is 
not a practice to be followed. I have taken two 
or three raking shots at grouse sitting on fences 
in my time, but the opportunity was so rare 
and the temptation so great that it was just then 
irresistible. 

The best quail-shooting I ever had was in the 
Sangamon River country, about where Salt Creek 
falls into it. There is upon Salt Creek and the 
Sangamon a great deal of bottom-land with much 
hazel-brush and considerable timber. There are 
also plenty of corn-fields. The shooting there is 
much varied. There arc vast numbers of quail, a 



98 FIELD SHOOTING. 

great many grouse, and at the right times snipe 
and duck are to be found in amazing numbers. 
When I used to go out in that neighborhood for 
the purpose of shooting, quail especially, I used to 
get from twenty to thirty brace a day for many 
days in succession. Varied shooting, however, is 
more satisfactory sport to me, and 1 used to make 
very heavy bags of grouse, quail, and some duck 
— mallards and teal. It is a great place for mal- 
lards ; some of them stop all summer and breed 
there, and some stop all winter, for there arc 
parts of the river which hardly ever freeze over. 
Quail arc more abundant about there now than 
they were at the time I speak of, and there are 
quite as many grouse ; but they are both more 
difficult to kill than they used to be in the earlier 
part of the season. The corn-fields have increased 
so that they are now many and vast, and this ' 
serves as a defence fur the birds. There are more 
quail in that country this year than there ever 
were before. There are now, however, plenty of 
quail all over Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. In the 
southwest of Illinois, the region called Egypt, 
there is a great deal of brush interspersed with 
prairie, firm-lands, and groves of timber, and there 
quail may be found in great abundance. But 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 99 

grouse are not as plentiful there as in the interior 
counties of the State. 

Some people think the quail a hard bird to 
shoot, but it is not. It flies swift Lut straight, 
and is commonly missed by reason of the shooter 
being too much in a hurry where it is not brought 
to bag. Because the flight of the bird when 
flushed is rapid, men think it necessary to shoot 
very quick, and pull the trigger without sighting 
the mark truly. This is an error to which three out 
of four misses are owing. Let the bird be well 
sighted along the rib before the trigger is pulled, 
and, no matter how fast he goes, the shot will 
overtake and stop him. Quail will not carry off 
a great many shot. There is no necessity for 
hurry in shooting, and this will be made manifest 
to sportsmen if they will sometimes step the 
ground from where they fired to the dead bird. 
They will find that in nine cases out of ten it 
was not as far off as they believed it to be when 
they fired at it. Many of those thought to be 
as much as forty yards off when the trigger was 
pulled will be found dead at thirty yards, and 
some at five-and-twenty. This shows that there 
is commonly plenty of time to get well on the 
bird before shooting, instead of blazing away on the 



100 FIELD SHOOTING. 

instant at random. I have shot thousands on thou- 
sands myself, and know that my misses were com- 
monly caused by being in too much of a hurry to 
fire. When I have missed with the first and killed 
•with the second barrel, I have considered it a 
plain proof that I ought to have let another 
second elapse before firing the first barrel ; for 
if a bird, flying hi the open straight away, or 
quartering, is well sighted with a good gun pro- 
perly charged, it is next kin to a miracle for it 
to escape. After good experience I resolved to 
take more time in quail-shooting, and I have 
found the practice answer. I can now kill nearly 
every quail 1 shoot at within fair distance. Quail 
generally lie close to the dog when they will lie 
at all well, and do not get up until the shooter is 
near them. The experience of sportsmen will 
confirm this, and it will show that there is no 
reason whatever for shooting in a hurried man- 
ner, but very strong reasons for guarding against 
it. By taking time you not only get the bird 
well sighted, but the extra distance it has gone 
gives the shot so much more chance to spread, 
and thus increases the chance to kill. 

A few years ago, after the close of the war, I 
went, in the middle of January, on a shooting 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN Till: WEST. 101 

excursion to Lynn County, Missouri. I hunted on 
Shoal Creek, in the neighborhood of Cameron, a 
place about fifty miles cast of St. Joseph, on 
the Missouri River. It was a good place for 
game There were quail, pinnated grouse, some 
ruffed grouse, turkeys and deer in large numbers, 
f killed many turkeys and a few deer: but of 
these I shall give some account further on, under 
the proper heads. The country is wild and 
broken, with much brush and timber, and abounds 
in gullies, dee}) hollows, and steep ravines. The 
bevies, when flushed, would frequently fly for 
the thickets and gullies, and then it was difficult 
shooting. Sometimes, however, they would scat- 
ter and drop in the grass of the pieces of prairie, 
and then I had beautiful sport, killing from 
twenty to thirty brace a day. The pinnated 
grouse were not numerous about there, but the 
ruffed grouse were in fair numbers for them. 
Iowa is a good State for quail. There are more 
groves of timber and more brush there than in 
Illinois, but the latter is much the best State for 
pinnated grouse, and the growing up of the Osage 
orange hedges has supplied in many parts the 
want of brush, and thus increased the head of 
quail. When (lushed in the open, the birds very 



102 FIELD SHOOTING. 

often go for the hedges, and then a great deal 
may be done with a gun on each side of the 
hedge while the dogs are beating it. One man 
cannot do much with the quail when they take 
this refuge. Some of these hedges are eight or 
ten feet high; others have been so trimmed as 
to be four feet through and thick of growth. 
With a man on each side of the hedge there is 
very pretty shooting. If you arc out without a 
companion, and the quail take to the hedges, you 
may trust one side to an old, well-trained dog, 
and take the other yourself. Always send the 
dog to the lee side. If you have a companion, 
and he leaves to you the choice of sides, as most 
men will do, not knowing that it makes any differ- 
ence, always take the windward side. By so doing 
you will get three or four shots to your com- 
panion's one when the wind is blowing athwart, c? 
nearly athwart, the hedge. The reason is very 
simple, though seldom thought of. The dog to lee- 
ward winds the quail in the hedge, and, as a mat- 
ter of course, puts them out on the windward side ; 
while the scent is blown away from the dog on 
your side. I have been out with men who did 
not understand this, and they would say, " Cap- 
tain, what the d — 1 makes almost all the quail fly 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IS THE WEST. 103 

out on your side of the hedge 1 " Half the suc- 
cess of sporting, outside of being a good shot, 
depends upon the knowledge of such things as 
this. There is another matter to be mentioned 
here. The best dogs in the world arc sometimes 
unable to find and put up all the birds in a 
bevy of quail. I have often been out with men 
who had first-rate dogs, and have, to their 
amazement, given them absolute and irrefragable 
proof of this fact. They have been not a little 
annoyed at first when they saw me put up quail 
Which their dogs had been unable to find iifter 
the bevy was gone. But it was no fault of the 
dogs, nor were they unable to detect the quail 
because the latter withheld their scent, as some 
have argued they have power to do. I do not 
believe they possess any such power. It is not 
a question of no scent, but of too much. The bevy 
have been lying there and running all over the 
ground, so that it is covered and tainted with 
scent to such a degree that the noses of the dogs 
become full of it, and that is why they cannot 
find and put up one or two birds which lie close 
in their hiding-places and decline to move. I 
will now relate a notable instance of this sort of 
thing which occurred last fall. It was near Selma, 



104 FIE!.!) SHOOTING. 

Alabama, in the neighborhood of which city I was 
shooting with a gentleman named Ellis and Mr. 
Jacobs, a gunsmith. On the day in question Mr. 
Jacobs did not take the field, and Mr. Ellis and 
I were alone. lie had a brace of splendid set- 
ters, a black and a red. For one of the dogs 
he had paid two hundred and. fifty dollars, and 
he would not have taken five hundred for the 
brace. They had fine noses and were splendid 
workers. In the course of our sport we found a 
bevy of quail in old grass at the edge of a bit 
of prairie which had once been ploughed up, and 
was now an old garden all overgrown with weed:; 
and briers. The quail ran in the grass, but 
finally got up together. Mr. Ellis killed two and 
I killed two. A few went away, and were marked 
down at some distance. Mr. Ellis believed they 
were all gone. The dogs beat the ground tho- 
roughly, and could find no more. I said that 1 
believed there might be more, upon which Mr. 
Ellis made his dogs try it again, and then eon- 
fidently pronounced that there could not be an- 
other quail there. I said, " I still think there may 
be quail here and I will show you how to make 
them rise if there arc any." With that I imitated 
the kind of whistling noise made by the old quail 



Ql UL-61 THE WEST. L05 

;i she has young i . Up got one, and Mr. Ellis 
killed it; away went another, and I stopped it. Mr. 
Ellis was greatly astonished, and did not know what 
to make of it. I explained the matter, telling him 
that it" the dogs had been taken off to another part 
of the field, and kept there long enough for the 
old scent to have exhaled from the ground and 
passed away, they would hive found the two 
quail readily enough whoa brought back to the 
place. The ground was so saturated with scent 
that the dogs could not distinguish that of the 
remaining birds, and could not put them up with- 
out stumbling right on them. 1 have often seen 
the same tiling happen with a close-lying lot of 
pinnated grouse in long prairie-grass. 1 do not 
believe in the theory advanced by some that quail 
or any other game-bird can withhold their scent so 
a3 to prevent a good dog from winding them when 
lie comes near. 1 had fair sport in the South last 
fall, principally at quail, round the cotton-fields, 
but there seemed to be a scarcity of game. There 
was not one quail to a hundred which would have 
been found in good situations in Illinois. I was in 
Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, 
and nowhere was game in what we should call fair 
plenty in the West. At Paris, Tennessee, they 



100 FIELD SHOOTING. 

held the erroneous opinion that a pigeon-shooter 
could not be a good field shot. They said they 
had a man who could beat any pigeon-shooter in 
the field. 1 told them to send for him, as I was 
willing to shoot against him for a hundred dollars, 
fifty shots each, to be taken alternately. They would 
not make the match. In Mississippi I shot with 
Mr. Galbraith. The birds were scarce and wild. 
There were more about Selma than any other place 
I was at. So far as my experience went, the shoot- 
ing was nothing to that which may be had in Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Min- 
nesota, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, etc. There 
were as fine a lot of gentlemen in the South as I 
have ever met, and they were good shots and keen 
sportsmen. 



CHAPTER VI. 



11UFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 



Hitherto we have been concerned with the sport 
to be had in pursuit of game-birds, pinnated grouse, 
and quail, which are found in the neighborhood of 
cultivated farms, and, as regards the latter, often 
in the immediate vicinity of the habitations of man. 
Wo now come to one whose favorite haunts are 
wild, solitary places not frequently intruded upon, 
and almost always lying remote from thickly- 
settled sections of country. The ruffed grouse is a 
very handsome bird, and in situations where it is 
seldom shot at it seems to take a sort of pride in 
exhibiting its beauty in a stately and graceful 
manner. It weighs about a pound and a half; is 
plump on the breast; and its flesh, white, juicy, 
and delicate, is delicious eating. It is usually half 
spoiled in city restaurants by splitting and broiling. 
It ought to be roasted and served with bread-sauce. 
The ruffed grouse is extensively distributed from 

east to west, but is nowhere found in any great 

lor 



108 FTEL ) r.IIOOTIN'G. 

abundance. Its habits arc not nearly so gregarious aa 
those of the pinnated grouse, and no such multitudes 
are to be found anywhere of ruffed grouse as may 
often be met with of the former species in Iho 
great prairie States. The ruffed grouse is but 
seldom found in coveys, though sometimes a brood 
of full-grown birds are found still together i:i 
some lonely nook among the woodlands, or in a 
solitary, sheltered spot in severe winter weather. 
It is generally found singly or in pairs, and 
loves sylvan solitudes, steep hillsides, wooded 
dells, and the neighborhood of gullies and ravines. 
The rougher and more broken the country, the 
better the ruffed grouse like it, provided it is 
well timbered with the trees and well covered 
with the shrubs upon whose buds the birds 
mainly feed. It is, however, often met with in 
the deep, heavily-timbered bottom-lands of the 
northwest part of Michigan. The buds of birch, 
beecfc, and laurel (so-called) arc the favorite food 
of this bird in winter and spring. In summer 
it no doubt feeds largely on berries and insects. 
I do not think it ever visits the stubble-lands 
to pick up wheat and buckwheat, though there 
are some such bits of stubble in the very heart 
of the woods in which it is constantly but thinly 



RUFFED-QROUSE SHOOTING. 10S 

found. In the New England States it is met 
with* and is sparsely distributed in New York 
and New Jersey. In some of the wild, half- 
mountainous tracts of New Jersey, where the 
undergrowth consists largely of laurel, it is more 
abundant. It is also frequently met with in 
West Virginia. In Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Missouri, and Iowa the ruffed grouse is 
also found; but so far as my knowledge and 
experience go, it is most abundant of all in 
some parts of Wisconsin and the northwest part 
of the lower peninsula of Michigan. It is said 
tliat the buds of the laurel and some of the 
lxrries upon which the ruffed grouse feed have 
a tendency to make the flesh poisonous. I can- 
not confirm the theory, though I have eaten many 
a grouse whose crop was full of the buds in 
question when drawn. In general appearance it 
lias some resemblance to the pinnated grouse, but 
is a smaller bird, with a long, square tail, very 
full feathered, which it carries over the fallen 
leaves and mossy sward among the timber with 
a conscious pride and a swelling, strutting gait 
in places where it is little disturbed. It is, in 
fact, a beautiful ornament to the romantic soli- 
tudes and deep, heavy woods which it inhabits. 



110 FTELD SHOOTING. 

In places where it is seldom shot at, the bird, 
at the approach of man, instead of taking wing, 
often spreads its tail, ruffles up the feathers of 
the neck, and struts off with the proud air of 
the true cock of the woods. In the spring of the 
year, at the approach of breeding-time, and at 
other seasons just before stormy, rainy weather, 
the male bird drums at dawn of day". It may 
sometimes, too, be heard performing this singu- 
lar feat in the night, and on a sultry afternoon 
when a thunder-storm is brewing. The drumming 
is usually made on an old log, and each male 
bird seems to have his favorite place for the 
joyous performance. Pie begins by lowering his 
wings as he w r alks to and fro on the log, then 
making some hard strokes at intervals, and finally 
so increasing the swiftness of the movement that 
the sound is like the rapid roll of a snare-drum 
muffled by a position in the depths of the woods. 
The sound is very deceptive as to the place of 
the bird. He may be comparatively near, while 
his drumming really seems like muttered thunder 
a long way off". On the other hand, the hearer 
sometimes supposes the hidden drummer to be 
close at hand when he is at a very considerable 
distance. In wild situations, near lonely preci- 



RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 1 1 1 

pices, the beating of the rufFecl grouse upon his 
log may remind one of Macdonald's phantom 
drummer, whose story was beautifully and forcibly 
told in verse by General William H. Lytic, 
who fell, covered with glory and renown, at 
Chickainauga : 

4< And still belated peasants tell 

How, near that Alpine height, 
They hear a drum roll loud and clear 

On many a storm-vexed night. 
This story of the olden time 

With sad eyes they repeat, 
And whisper by whose ghostly hands 

The spirit-drum is beat." 

• I have often seen the tops of old logs divested 
of their mosses and worn smooth by the constant 
drumming of the cock ruffed grouse, and have 
stood within thirty yards and seen the bird per- 
form the operation. Just before rain the grouse 
drum frequently, and the repetition of this sound 
from various quarters in the daytime is a pretty 
certain indication of the near approach of wet 
weather. The female builds in the Western 
States about the first of May. The nest is 
formed of leaves and dead grass, and is built in 



112 FIELD SHOOTIfffJ. 

a secluded place at the root of a tree or stump, 
or by the side of an old, mossy log over- 
grown with blackberry briers. The hen lays 
from twelve to fifteen eggs, and when first 
hatched the chicks are the most beautiful, cunning, 
and alert little things that can be seen any- 
where. The editor of this work had an excellent 
opportunity for observing them and their watchful, 
devoted mothers on one well-remembered occa- 
sion. Nearly thirty years ago he was upon an 
exploring expedition in the northwest part of the 
lower peninsula of Michigan. The country was 
then very thinly settled about there. A few 
men had with much labor hewn out little clear- 
ings in the heavy-timbered woods in places on the 
banks of rivers, but the great industry was log- 
ging in the pine-woods, splitting shingles, and 
fishing dui-iug the spring freshets, when the low- 
lands and wet prairies were literally covered 
with pickerel. The ridges were thickly timbered 
with beech and maple where not covered with 
pine, and the bottom-lands were clothed with 
gigantic oak, black-walnut, basswood, hickory, 
and butternut trees. It was a country watered 
by a network of rivers, which united to form 
the Saginaw, soon after which junction the latter fell 



i;r FFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. I lo 

into the bay of the same name in Lake Huron. 
We started in canoes, well provided with provi- 
sions, arms, and ammunition, and paddled for the 
mouth of the Cass. It was in June, and the 
young flappers (wild ducks) were swarming in 
the rivers. Above the Lend of the Cass we 
made our first eamp. The region was then very 
wild. Deer abounded, and the wolves howled 
hideously around the camp at night. We treed 
two or three wild-eats, and shot them with 
rifles. We had no shot-guns. A band of Chip- 
pewa Indians were encamped near us. The men 
of the tribe lived by hunting and fishing with the 
spear. The women and girls made money by 
gathering cranberries in the marshes when the 
wild fruit was ripe* These Indians assured us 
that a few elk were still left in the great woods 
which here surrounded our party, and they said 
that in the fall there were lots of bears. It was 
just the hatching-time of the ruffed grouse, 
which we found numerous in the bottoms amon£ 
the heavy timber. They had seldom been mo- 
lested, and were not very shy, but rather bold 
and fearless. One day we cut down a butternut- 
tree, wanting it to make a temporary bridge 
across a creek, and, having lopped the top, went 



\ 



114 FIELD SHOOTTNG. 

to our tent to dinner. On our return we came 
upon a hen-grouse with a brood of young newly 
hatched. Uttering a cry, she scuffled and fluttered 
about at our feet with the most motherly cour- 
age and devotion, behaving as if she were wounded, 
in order to draw us off. But we had seen her 
young ones run under the leaves of the fallen 
butternut-tree, and caught two or three of them. 
They were beautiful downy little things, and 
watched us intently with their bright eyes. The 
mother, stimulated by alarm, remained near us 
while we held her young after the others had 
scuffled off, and we had the pleasure of placing 
the little things on the ground again, and seeing 
them hide in the cover. We walked away to a 
distance, and soon heard the mother calling her 
brood of little ones to the shelter of her protec- 
tion. The yor.ng arc very quick and cunning at 
concealment. As soon as they hear the mother's 
warning cry they dart into cover, and, if there is 
no other at hand, they will seize a leaf with bill 
and feet, and turn over so that it may conceal 
them. While the party remained above the bend* 
of the Cass river there came up a tremendous 
thunder-storm, followed by a cold wind from Lake 
Huron. Previous to the storm the cock ruffed 



' RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 115 

grouse could be heard drumming in all directions. 
I; is a flat, alluvial country, much of the bottom- 
land being overflowed early in spring, as all the 
wet prairies thereabouts are ; but, nevertheless, 
these bottoms abounded with grouse in the breed- 
ing-season. 

The ruffed grouse can seldom be relied upon to 
fill the game-bag alone ; for the most part it is 
sparsely and thinly distributed over the regions it 
inhabits, though in some secluded spots where 
they have not been disturbed a good number may 
sometimes be killed in the fall before the broods 
have dispersed. It is as wild in disposition as 
any- bird that flics. The young of the pinnated 
grouse may be brought up in confinement, but I 
do not think those of the ruffed grouse can be 
reared in the same way. I began to shoot ruffed 
grouse, when still a boy, in the neighborhood of 
Burnvillc, Albany County, New York, in company 
with a man named Paul Hochstosser. He was a 
hunter by calling, and a good one, well versed in 
the woodcraft of the region, and the best shot 
with the double-barrelled gun then in those parts. 
The first bird I ever killed was a ruffed grouse 
perched in a hemlock-tree. He was on an arm 
close to the trunk of the tree, bolt upright, with 



11G FIELD SHOOTING. 

his neck stretched up. This is their habit when 
they take to trees, and they are not easily distin- 
guished from knots. 1 knew their habits, and 
had good eyes. That day I had played truant 
from school, and, taking my father's old firelock, I 
went out to hunt. The greater part of the day 
was gone before 1 got one of the birds I saw in a 
proper sitting position. However, there he was at 
last, and as I was too small to hold the musket 
out and take aim from the shoulder alone, I 
steadied it against the bole of another tree. Bang 
she went, and down came the grouse, but only 
winged. There was snow on the ground, and, boy- 
like, 1 dropped the old musket into it, and went 
for the wounded grouse. The ground was a steep 
hillside, the bird fluttered down it, and I went 
after, tumbling and rolling for as much as a hun- 
dred yards. But I secured it at last, and thinking 
it was glory enough for one day, as the saying is, 
I recovered the old musket and returned home. 
The truancy was condoned because of the bird. 
After that I hunted every time I could get a 
chance to do so. I soon got hold of a simde-bar- 
relied gun with a percussion-lock, and by perse- 
verance for some time learned to shoot on the 
wing. Paul was a great woodcock-shooter, and 



UUFFED-OROU3E BHOOTINO. 117 

we sometimes shot i:i company. In going after 
ruffed grouse in those days we used to take a 
small spaniel dog, which would flush them out of 
the brush, and cause them to take to the trees. 
They arc not easy to distinguish, as 1 said before, 
when on the tree, from their sitting upright close 
to the trunk, their plumage being somewhat the 
color of the bark. This habit must be remem- 
bered by the sportsman when he believes the bird 
i; treed, but is unable to make him out. When 
several have taken to the same tree, shoot the one 
which sits lowest first, and the others will not 
take wing. If the upper one i3 shot, its fall starts 
the others off. More ruffed grouse are shot sit- 
ting than flying. It iz a very hard bird to shoot 
on the wing — hard to hit and hard to kill. Other 
birds, when flushed in woodland, fly for the openings 
in the trees; the ruffed grouse, on the contrary, 
plunges right into the densest part of the thicket. 
The man who commonly kills the ruffed grouse ho 
shoots at on the wing is fit to hold his own at any 
sort of shooting on the wing. The bird com- 
monly rises in difficult ground with a whirr like 
the sudden roar of a waterfall, and goes away 
lectric pa(-o for the thickest part of the brake. 
The birds were scarce in Albany County, New 



118 PLEL1) SHOOTING. 

York. The most I ever killed in a day there 
was six. In Cook County, Illinois, I have killed 
fifteen in a day. In Missouri, on Shoal Creek, 
when I was hunting turkeys, I found raffed grouse 
in fair numbers, considering the nature and habits 
of the bird, and killed forty or fifty in the 
three week:; I stayed there. Of all the places 
I know, the ruffed grouse are most plentiful in 
the timber-lands of Wisconsin and Minnesota and 
the upper part of Michigan. But it is a bird of 
very secluded habits, and when settlements have 
become thick and much of the timber has been 
cleared off, it disappears. A well-w r atered timber 
country, witli plenty of thick underbrush among rifts 
and gullies, is the place to look for it as a com- 
mon rule, though they arc also found in the great 
woods of heavy-timbered bottom-land. In looking 
for ruffed grouse especially I use No. 8 shot, and, 
if I found them while turkey-shooting, I changed the 
cartridge. I do not use spaniels now, but shoot 
ruffed grouse over setters. They will lie pretty Avell 
to the dogs sometimes, and where not shot at will 
sometimes strut off in front of him in plain sight. 
When shot at much and wild, the ruffed grouse must 
be pointed by the dog from a considerable distance. 
It will not let him get close, and as coon as the 



KUFFED-G ROUSE SHOOTING. Ill) 

setter moves a stop forward the grouse springs 
up and goes away like a bullet for the thickest 
part of the cover. I have seen stories in print of 
ruffed grouse taking to water, of its being caught 
and let go, and then caught again. I do not be- 
lieve one word of such things. The man who 
invented them can know but little of the nature 
and habits of this very wild bird. In the deep 
snows of winter the ruffed grouse roost under the 
snow. They dart at it with great speed, and 
make a sort of burrow beneath the surface. At 
other times they roost on the ground. When out 
coon-hunting at night, I have often put them up 
from their roosts on the ground. It has been 
maintained that they sometimes roost in trees ; 
and as they certainly take to trees readily enough 
when flushed by a barking dog, and feed on the 
buds of trees, it seems reasonable to believe that 
they may sometimes roost in them. On the other 
hand, many men of experience declare that they 
never roost in trees. I have often seen them in 
trees very early in the morning, but it was out at 
the ends of the branches, feeding on the young 
buds. I will not positively affirm that the ruffed 
grouse never roosts in trees, but I think it never 
does so when it can help it. In very severe weather, 



120 FIELD SHOOTING. 

when the crust upon the snow is too strong to he 
pierced, the bird may seek shelter under the 
thick boughs of pines, and close to the trunk on 
the leeward side. It can stand a great deal of 
cold, and, unlike some other birds, can always 
find its food — the buds and tender twigs of trees 
and shrubs — in the hardest weather. The sports- 
man who goes into the places the ruffed grouse 
frequents will see some of the most picturesque 
scenes and romantic landscapes that the country 
affords. Hills and ravines, secluded woodland 
dells, the foliage rich and ripe with the deep 
tints of autumn, will meet his eye, while the 
music of mountain-brooks and the roar of 
waterfalls will fill his ears. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 

In the estimation of sportsmen in this country, 
as well as in Europe, the woodcock is regarded 
as one of the very highest game-birds. To 
make a good bag of woodcock is a feat to be 
proud of. The bird is generally scarce, even on 
the best ground, and in its most favorite haunts 
it is difficult to find and kill, and is one of the 
richest morsels on the table that the woods and 
fields supply. The woodcock of America slightly 
differs from that of Europe in size and markings, 
but the variations are of no moment to the sports- 
man. Upon this continent the woodcock winters 
in the Southern States, and in regions still further 
south, and comes north in spring, remaining till 
the ground freezes late in the fall. The bird 
breeds in Canada and Nova Scotia, as well as in 
northern and middle States of the Union, East 
and West ; and it sometimes rears two broods 
in a season. This is not, however, commonly 
the case, but it is certain that when the old 

121 



122 FIELD SHOOTING. 

birds have lost their nests or their young 
through floods in the breeding-time, they rear a 
late brood. The woodcock arrives north in 
March, and generally builds in April. Much 
depends, however, upon the earliness or lateness of 
the spring, which sometimes varies nearly a 
month. Its nest has been found in March in 
very early situations, but it is believed that in 
such cases they were those of old birds which 
had passed a mild winter in some chosen, 
sheltered spot, and never gone south at all. It 
is reasonable that after having made its migra- 
tion from the far south to the latitude of New 
York, Illinois, Michigan, and Canada, the birds 
would require some weeks for restoration before 
laying their eggs. The nest is made on the 
ground, in a piece of woods or brushy swamp, 
and is composed of grass and leaves. The hen 
lays four, sometimes five eggs, and the young 
run as soon as hatched ; the little ones arc 
active and rather cunning at hiding, though not 
to such an extent as the chicks of the ruffed 
grouse. The woodcock displays the same care 
and manifests as much devotion to her young as 
the ruffed grouse, and employs the same expe- 
dient of simulating lameness to draw off an in- 



SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. ] \>;J 

truclcr from their neighborhood. The hen-wood- 
cock is a tame bird when sitting, and will not 
leave her nest for any light reason. When I 
was a boy, they used to build in a swamp on 
my father's larrn in Albany County, New York, 
where I have more than once crawled up and 
caught the old bird in my hand, and released 
her after looking at her eggs. This would not 
induce her to forsake her nest, and in this she 
differs from some other wild birds. Wild ducks 
are not easily driven from their nests, and, after 
being disturbed once or twice, will still return 
again. The English pheasant, if once flushed 
directly off her eggs, always forsakes them. I 
never saw more than five eggs in a woodcock's 
nest, and usually there are but four. It has 
been stated that a woodcock's nest, with eight 
full-fledged young ones, was found on the banks 
of Loch Lomond, in Scotland. I believe these 
were the young of some other bird, if eight 
were found, for the story is almost absurd on 
its face. Young woodcocks, full-fledged, are 
n£ver found in a nest. The young, when first 
hatched, might be, but they are then covered 
with dowle, and not with feathers. The wood- 
cock has been kept in confinement, and proved 



124 FIELD SHOOTING. 

itself to be a voracious feeder. It was no 
small trouble to keep it supplied with worms. 
It bored in to the earth given to it, and was always 
ready for food. The digestion of the woodcock 
is very rapid. This accounts for the fact that 
birds which arrive poor speedily get condition in 
good ground. 

For the procurement of its food, for which it 
bores in soft, moist ground, fat, loamy soils, and 
rich vegetable mould, it has a long, slender 
bill, very sensitive, and a long, prehensile tongue 
with barbs on the end. The young grow rapidly 
where the lying is good and the food plentiful. 
In favorable seasons they have attained their 
growth by the fourth of July, when the shoot- 
ing commences. But in some places, in some 
years, they are not above two-thirds grown at 
that date. I saw woodcock at Boston this year 
in the middle of July not two-thirds grown, and 
it was a pity they had been shot. After the 
broods have once dispersed, the woodcock is a 
solitary bird. It is true that a number of them 
may sometimes be found in the same swale, 
" cripple," or piece of woodland, but that is 
because the lying of the place suits them, and 
the boring is good, worms and the larvre of insects 



SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 125 

being abundant in the soil. The woodcock does 
not frequent sandy, thirsty soils, nor gravelly 
ground, nor sour, wet meadows. It wants warmth 
and richness, as well as plenty of moisture. The 
bird is nocturnal in its habits, and its great eye, 
placed far backwards and upwards in its large 
head, enables it to see by night and in the gloom 
of the thick coverts in which it lies by day. It 
never flics by day, unless disturbed, and seldom 
feeds in the daytime, unless it be on rare occa- 
sions in the thick shade of some moist and closely- 
overgrown spot in its cover. Late in the evening, 
when it is nearly dark, the woodcock leave the 
cover, and betake themselves to wet, rich places 
to bore for their food. It used to be a popular 
notion that woodcock and snipe ate nothing, and 
lived merely by what was called suction ; whereas 
they are both voracious feeders and like the 
richest quality of food — namely, the plump worms 
and insects to be found in fat soils. After indus- 
triously spending the night in finding food to 
satisfy his enormous appetite, the woodcock re- 
turns just before dawn of day to the thick brake 
or close overgrown " cripple,"' in which he lies 
while the daylight lasts. AY here there is good 
lying and good feeding ground, woodcock may be 



120 FIELD SHOOTING. 

found in the season, and in spots where one 
bird has been shot it is common for another to 
take its place in a day or two. Where such 
birds come from, and why they did not come 
before the place was tcnantless, is not known. 
Although in some sort methodical in its ways 
and habits, the woodcock often seems to be 

r 

erratic in its comings and goings to and from 
certahi localities. Some days the birds will be 
found plentiful, for them, in certain ground. On 
another day, without any obvious reason for their 
absence, not one can be puf up in the same 
piece. The weather or some other cause un- 
known has induced them to make a local change, 
and this has sometimes been magnified, I think, 
into a second migration or a permanent removal 
to the uplands and bluffs. I do not believe that 
there is any second migration northwards of the 
woodcock after breeding-time ; nor do I believe 
that the birds go to the uplands and bluffs, and 
stay there until the beginning of October. It 
is not true that no woodcock are to be found in 
their usual haunts in September. I have found 
and shot them myself in that month in fair num- 
bers. It is true that there arc not as many 
as there were in July, and for the very 



SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 127 

good reason that vast numbers have been shot, 
while those which arc left have become nioro 
wild and wary. Another reason for the seeming 
absence of birds, except here and there, is simply 
this : with us, grouse-shooting in the latter part of 
August and September is so much easier, and 
affords so much greater chance of success, that 
very few go after woodcock in those months, and 
the birds have it all to themselves in woody 
swales, tangled thickets, and the islands over- 
grown with the willow and the alder, until October 
brings down the great division of birds bred to 
the northward of the United States. 

Early in the season and during the hot weather 
the woodcock is a lazy bird, and seems to labor 
in its flight. It is not, however, easy to kill on 
that account, for when it rises, often very close 
to you, it goes up among the thick foliage, right 
on end, as it were, to the top of the cover, and 
then, after flying horizontally for about twenty 
yards, it suddenly flops down again. When it 
does this after being shot at, men often think 
they have killed it, while in truth not a feather 
has been touched. The thickness of the covert in 
full leaf prevents the shooter from having any- 
thing but a glimpse of the bird, and he must 



128 FIELD SHOOTING. 

make a snap-shot at where intuition tells him I he 
woodcock ought to be. Besides this difficulty, the 
upward flight is calculated to distract the aim, 
even when the bird is not absolutely concealed 
by the density of the foliage. Commonly it is 
flip-flap of the wing, and the woodcock has gone 
away, often not seen by the sportsman at all. 
In some places it is practicable to send the dog 
in to beat the thicket while you remain on the 
edge to shoot as the cock fly. Where the brush 
is short this may be done, and, if there are many 
birds, the sport will be good. Three years ago 
I had some nice shooting by following this me- 
thod on Rock River, Illinois. When the cover is 
large, and the timber and saplings are twenty feet 
high, the above-mentioned plan will not work. 
You must go in then with the dogs, and take 
your chance of snap-shots. Later in the year the 
woodcock is sometimes found in more open pieces 
of timber — that is, in places where the under- 
brush is not so very thick. But it is still a 
pretty hard bird to shoot, for now it flies like 
a bullet, and zigzags and twists about among 
the close-standing stems, going for an opening 
through which to make a straight flight. The 
woodcock flushed in cover always goes for an 



SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 129 

opening; the ruffed grouse never does, but sets 
sail for the closest and densest part. Now, when 
the woodcock is going swift and twisting among 
the stems of the saplings, lie is very easy to miss, 
and sportsmen who make good bags of cock in 
the prime of the fall season have a right to be 
proud of their exploits. This sort of shooting is 
much more pleasant than that to be followed in 
the tangled " cripples " of New Jersey, all over- 
grown with cat-briers and thick brush, with no 
good footing where you are, and no possibility 
of knowing where you will be next. In Albany 
County, New York, we used to use cocking-spaniels 
when woodcock-shooting. I have had none of that 
breed in the West, and now employ setters. 
They are bolder and better in forcing their way 
in rough places than pointers. The thin skins of 
the latter get all cut and torn, and their feet 
give out. But the best dogs 1 have ever had for 
general sport, take one sort of shooting with an- 
other, have been cross-bred between the setter 
and the pointer. For work these beat any pure- 
bred dog I ever owned, and, I may add, ever 
saw. But concerning this I shall treat further on. 
A great many woodcock may be found about 
Lockport, Illinois, forty miles southwest of Chi- 



130 FIELD SHOOTING. 

cago, but the brush is so thick in the swamps in 
summer and early fall that the shooting is diffi- 
cult. There are a few on the Sangamon, but 
only a few. On the bottoms and islands of the 
upper Mississippi River, right down to St. Louis, 
many woodcock may be found. The bottoms 
and islands are rich alluvial mould, and the wood- 
cock finds himself well placed in them for cover, 
for food and breeding-places. The brush com- 
monly grows down to the water's edge, and old 
logs lie among the bushes. The woodcock also 
frequents the thickets on the edges of the bayous 
and sloughs, and, when the bottoms have been 
overflowed, the birds use them as soon as the 
water has receded. During the floods they shift 
their places, and lie further from the rivers, 
but in the same sort of ground as before. In 
New York they were sometimes found in wet 
corn-fields adjacent to cover, but I do not think 
they ever are in the West. On the Illinois River, 
about Pekin, Peoria, and Havana, there is fair 
woodcock-shooting ; but the bird is scarce every- 
where in the West, compared with other sorts 
of game. Indeed, the woodcock is not only rela- 
tively scarce in the Yv^est, but, as I think, abso- 
lutely scarcer than in the Atlantic States. There 



SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 131 

is not in the prairie States so much of the sort 
of ground the woodcock likes as there is further 
east. I do, indeed, know of plenty of ground \:\ 
Central Illinois which one would think just suit- 
able for woodcock, but, owing to some reason 
which I have never been able to discover, the 
birds are not found there. A stray one or two 
may be picked up occasionally, but they arc 
never there in any number. I suppose it to be 
owing to some peculiarity in the soil. These 
neighborhoods have much of the right kind of 
food, and snipe abound near them ; but for some 
reason the woodcock does not like them. About 
the middle of October there is a great increase 
in the number of woodcock in the bottoms 
and islands of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. 
Flights of those bred further north then arrive, 
and they stay until driven away by sharp frosts. 
When they first arrive from the North, the leaves 
are still thick, but the white frosts, which arc 
quite insufficient to freeze the ground and drive 
the woodcock south, wilt the leaves, and then 
the shooting is pleasant and good. Generally 
speaking, the woodcock remain well along through 
November, and some seasons they have not all 
gone by the 1st of December. They like the 



132 . FIELD SHOOTING. 

neighborhood of little streams which trickle through 
brush and among timber. The most I ever killed 
in a day was fifteen couple. I have heard men 
boast of having killed fifty couple in a day; but 
if they did it, the birds must have been vastly 
more abundant than I ever saw them anywhere. 
The woodcock is easily killed when you can get 
an open shot ; but that is rather seldom, except 
at the last of the season and in such small patches 
cf short brush as I mentioned above. A wood- 
cock, when winged, docs not run off as quail do. 
The birds have t\v< sorts of flight In one it 
goes laboring and slow, just over the tops of the 
branches, to which height it has risen almost per- 
pendicularly, and then it soon flops down again. 
Its other mode of flight is swiftly away among 
the stems of the trees, darting here and there 
until it has found its opening, along which it goes 
like a bullet. I was told in the South that it is 
very plentiful along the edges of the bayous in 
the winter there. The negroes go out by night 
in boats with torches, and, paddling along, the 
woodcock on the muddy margin are knocked down 
with sticks. I heard of this, but never saw it, and 
merely tell the tale as it was told to me. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 

This well-known and excellent little bird of 
passage is to be found all over the country, in 
suitable ground, at the times of the spring and 
fall migrations. It winters about the wet rice- 
iields of the Southern States, and comes north in 
the spring, going to its breeding-grounds, which are 
mainly in higher latitudes than the United States. 
It is true that a few remain all summer in the 
Eastern States, and also in those to the westward, 
and rear broods of young; but by far the larger 
number continue towards the north, pausing about 
a month in the middle latitudes. It does not 
breed south of Virginia. In Kentucky, Indiana, 
and Michigan some snipe arc bred in the sedges 
of the wet prairies and about the edges of the 
wild rice-swamps. In Illinois a few nests are 
made about the Calumet, and some in the great 
Winnebago Swamp, which is part pool, and 
a great deal of high gras; marsh. About Co- 
lumbus, Kentucky, the first (lights of spring snipe 

133 



134 FIELD SHOOTING. 

arrive on the river-bottoms by the first of March 
in an early spring, but much depends upon the 
forwardness of the season and the state of the 
weather. The snipe need not be looked for until 
the frost is quite out of the ground, no matter 
how genial and pleasant the days may be. The 
reason seems to be plain. As long as there is 
frost in the ground the worms and larvae of in- 
sects upon which snipe feed are underneath the 
frozen strata, and cannot be found in the soft mud 
of the surface. In Illinois and Northern Indiana the 
frost holds in the ground much longer than in South- 
ern Kentucky. It penetrates a good deal deeper, 
and the spring is more backward than in the last- 
named region. Hence the snipe do not come to 
the Calumet, the Winnebago Swamp, the Sanga- 
mon, and the other favorite haunts which it fre- 
quents in Illinois, until nearly a month after they 
have appeared at Columbus. When they first 
arrive, the birds are thin and wild, and do not 
lie well. In a short time, however, they get very 
fat and become lazy. I find that in New Jersey 
the fall snipe-shooting is the best, and that the 
birds tarry so short a time in the spring that 
sometimes there is scarcely any spring snipe-shcot- 
ing at all. Now, with us the reverse of this is 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 135 

the case. The snipe stay much longer in the 
spring in the Western States than they do in the 
fall, and they distribute themselves more over the 
face of the country. In the autumn migration 
they keep more to the lines of the great rivers, 
and stay but a short time. One reason, no doubt, 
is that in the spring there is much more wet 
ground, such as suits the snipe. In the fall many 
places in which the birds lie thick in April are 
quite dry, and no longer suitable as feeding- 
places. The snipe likes wet places even more 
than the woodcock. His favorite resorts are wet 
bogs, splashy places in grassy meadows, the rich, 
moist ground of river-bottoms, and the margins 
of grassy sloughs and bayous — 

" By the rushy, fringed bank, 
Where grow the willow and the ozier dank ! " 

The best snipe-shooting with us is in the spring 
of the year, though very good sport may be had 
in the fall. In the spring I have sometimes 
killed from twenty-five to fifty couple a day for 
many days together. When the birds first come, 
they are poor and wild, and the shooting is difficult ; 
but a little time spent upon the rich bottom-land, 
which swarms with worms and other food, puts them 



186 FIELD SHOOTING. 

in flesh. They are able to indulge their sharp and 
almost insatiable appetite, and soon grow fat. 1 
shot snipe several spring seasons in company with 
R. M. Patchen, of Atlanta, Logan County, Illinois. 
Our favorite ground was the Salt Creek bottoms 
on the Sangamon, and I doubt whether there is 
any better ground in the world. We have killed 
as many as three hundred and forty in a day, 
and our bag was seldom as small as seventy-five 
couple at the right time. The ground we shot 
over was the grassy, sedgy bottoms along Salt 
Creek, near where it falls into Sangamon River, 
and across the latter stream along the bottoms 
in Mason County. The shooting there begins 
about the first of April. In many places the bot- 
toms at that time of the year have been recently 
overflowed, and a scum of mud and slop is 
left, in which the snipe seem to delight. Snipe 
are vastly more abundant in the West, in the 
proper snipe-ground, than they are in the East. 
I find that in New Jersey and Pennsylvania 
snipe-shooters think they have had an average fair 
day's sport if they have killed about eight 
couple. Now, we should not think we had been 
shooting at all if we killed no more than that 
number. 



THE SNTP.E AXD SNIPE-SHOOTTXG. 137 

A great many people go up-wind when after 
snipe, believing that it gives a much better chance 
to the dogs. I always go down-wind, and use no 
dog at all, except for retrieving purposes. There 
is no need to use a dog to find snipe on good 
snipe-ground at the proper times and seasons. 
The bird always rises against the wind, and (lies 
up-wind or across it, making zigzags when he 
first gets under way. Now, if you are to wind- 
ward of the bird when it rises, it is nearly cer- 
tain to give you a side shot. As I remarked 
before, when they first come from the south in the 
spring, the snipe are wild. Their numbers are very 
large, but the ground is nearly bare, the grass 
having but just started. Four or five will get 
up together, and sometimes as many as twenty, 
all uttering the shrill squeak which they make on 
taking wing. The rich bottoms, low, marshy 
ground around sloughs, and wet corn-fields, arc 
good places to look for snipe. As they eat the 
plump worms and other rich food which they find 
in abundance in the loamy soils and black, vege- 
table deposits, the snipe become fat, and then 
they lie close and well. 1 never found any diffi- 
culty in shooting them then. Later on in the 
season still they get very fat, and will hardly rise 



138 FIELD SHOOTING. 

at all, save when put up by a noise like that of 
their own squeak. That is the only way to make 
them rise, and their flight is lazy and slow. 
Those which remain after the first of May are 
then so fat that they can hardly fly at all, and 
when they are picked at this time they look like 
a lump of fat bacon. When not over-fat, snipe 
fly swift. They hang on the wind for an instant, 
and then dart away zigzag up-wind or across the 
wind. I have several times killed two with one 
barrel, and on one occasion I killed three. It was 
in Logan County, as I was walking along the 
bank of a little slough. The three snipe got up 
in line, the nearest within twenty yards, and they 
all three fell to the right barrel. When they first 
come in the spring, it is difficult to shoot snipe in 
the corn-fields. They dodge about among the 
stalks, and rarely rise over the tops of them. A 
man who kills three out of four in the corn-fields 
at that time is a good shot. In shooting over 
the bottom-land it is best for two guns to be in 
company, and to walk down-wind some thirty or 
forty yards apart. Nearly all the birds may then 
be got. The shooters will be nearly certain to kill 
all the birds that rise between them, if they are 
good shots. In shooting at snipe it is a great 



THE SNIPE AND SNIFE-SIIOOTING. 139 

error to shoot too quick. The snipe, at first 
getting on the wing, twists and wires in and out 
in his flight. If shot at then, it may be killed, 
but is more likely to be missed. By waiting 
until it has gone a rod or two you may get a 
much easier shot. The flight of the bird is then 
straight, and, though it presents but a small mark, 
there is no real difficulty in hitting it. Side 
shots are the best of all for , a good shot. Be- 
ginners are somewhat apt to shoot behind the 
bird. The right time to pull the trigger is just 
as the snipe begins the direct flight. It is not 
a hard bird to kill on the bottoms, even while 
somewhat wild, if you can shoot well and go 
the right way about your beat, which is down- 
wind. Afterwards, when they have got fat, it is 
as easy to kill as any bird I know of. In 
talking with General Strong, who is a good 
sportsman and fine shot, and other gentlemen of 
Chicago, about snipe-shooting, I found it was their 
impression that it was a hard bird to shoot. 
Now, I knew well that, taken in the right way, 
at the right time, it was a very easy bird to 
kill ; and I offered to back myself to shoot and 
bfg a hundred snipe in a hundred consecutive 
shots. If 1 missed one shot out of the one hun- 



140 FIELD SHOOTING. 

clred, I was to be the loser. I was Willing to put 
up the money, and to take General Strong him- 
self as referee to see that I did it. They, how- 
ever, declined to make the wager. If it had been 
accepted, 1 should have chosen the Salt Creek and 
Sangamon bottoms for the ground, and taken the 
last week in April for the period. The birds are 
then flit and lazy, and I am confident that 1 could 
have done the feat. I should not, as a matter 
of course, have bound myself to do it within a 
certain time, because it is not possible to say 
when you can find birds thick on the ground. 
The snipe is somewhat erratic in his habits, and 
change of weather causes them to change their 
ground. If I had found snipe on that ground as 
thick as I have sometimes done, 1 believe I 
should have killed the one hundred, without a 
miss, in one day. I should not have taken any 
but fair chances, and I. should not have let fair 
f/hots go unimproved. In order to perform a feat 
of this kind a man must have several essential 
qualifications. He must be a dead-shot. He 
must have the best of nerve, and never be 
flurried in the least. With such a man, and a 
gun of ten bore, charged with five drams of 
powder and an ounce and a quarter of No. 12 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 141 

shot, the snipe rising near at hand will have 
but a very small chance of getting away. But 
as one miss will lose the wager, it is abso 
lutely necessary that the shooter should know 
when he is holding his gun so that it is virtu 
ally certain he will kill. If I had got the 
match, 1 should have used no dog to shoot over, 
hut should have walked the bottoms, going down 
wind, and should have chirped the snipe up with 
their own cry. I have often killed thirty with 
out a miss, when shooting for no wager, and 
taking every bird that rose within fair distance, 
as they got up anywhere. These things may seem 
strange to many sportsmen, especially those who 
arc mostly conversant with places where game 
is scarce and, being much disturbed and shot at, 
quite wild. But different localities and very 
different circumstances must be allowed for. I 
state nothing which is not true, and nothing but 
what I can support by good testimony — that of 
men who know the ground, and are acquainted 
with many of the anecdotes and feats 1 relate. 
In general snipe-shooting a man who lulls two 
out of four is accounted a good shot, and this 
is generally done by beating up-wind. Now, if 
such a man will try my plan and beat down 



142 FIELD SHOOTING. 

wind, having no dog save one to retrieve dead 
birds, he will find he can do much better. He 
will kill a great many more of the birds he 
shoots at. I have been snipe-shooting with men 
who called themselves good shots, and 1 have 
seen them miss full half of the birds they 
shot at. They almost always fired too quick, while 
the snipe was making his darts here and there before 
going off straight As a general rule, you must be 
willing and able to do a great deal of walking 
wiien snipe-shooting, if you would make a large 
bag. When I first shot snipe on Salt Creek 
bottoms, it was with a muzzle-loader, and I had 
no horse and buggy. With a horse and buggy 
to go to the ground and carry the bulk of the 
ammunition all day, and with a breech-loader, 1 
could have killed three or four hundred snipe a 
day. 1 could do so now if I could walk all day, 
as I could then , but since I was shot in the 
thigh my endurance in walking, especially on wet, 
slippery ground, is not as great as it formerly 
was. I could once walk from dawn of day till 
dark, only stopping to eat and drink, and could 
tire the best man I ever had in company in a 
long day's tramp after game. It was upon that 
and upon knowledge and judgment, largely dc- 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 143 

rived from experience, as to the likeliest places 
to find game, and how it would behave when 
found, that I relied in challenging any man in 
the world in field-shooting in the West. 1 counted 
upon these things as much as I did upon my 
ability as a marksman. My challenge stood three 
years, and had publicity through the sporting news- 
papers. There was plenty of talk about taking 
it up, but no one ever did so. I hear from time 
to time about some man who is said by some 
other man to be the best general field-shot in the 
Western country. This best general field-shot is 
commonly some man who was never heard of 
before by me or by anybody else outside of his 
own small neighborhood. I believe I know as 
many of the real dead-shots of the "West as any 
man in that section, and yet some one is mentioned 
as the best of all, of whom 1 never heard before. 
These foolish opinions and hollow reputations are 
commonly held and manufactured by those who 
have •taken up the absurd notion that a man who 
is a good trap-shooter at pigeons cannot be a good 
field-shot. Now, the reverse of this is commonly 
the case. The best shots I have known at pigeons 
have been good shots in the field, but many men 
who d<> well enough in the field fail at pigeons. 



144 FIELD SHOOTING. 

In snipe- shooting in the West along sloughs 
or wet swales, in the prairie or corn-fields, there 
should be two guns in company, one on each side 
of the slough or swale. Your companion will com- 
monly be willing that you shall take either side 
you choose, as few men know that it makes any 
difference. But it makes a very material differ- 
ence when the wind is blowing across, or nearly 
across, the slough, and if you take the windward 
side you will have the most shots. I have always 
done so, and have often killed two or three snipe 
to one killed by my companion. The reason is 
simply this . the snipe fly up-wind, and those which 
rise on the leeward side of the slough cross it to 
windward, while none of those which get up on 
the latter side fly to leeward. 

When the snipe first come on in the spring, 
it is often primarily discovered by a certain habit 
they have of hovering in the air of nights, and 
making a kind of humming noise with their wings, 
as they fall from a height! I have often been out 
duck-shooting at night at that season of the year, 
and, hearing this noise in the air, have become aware 
that the snipe had arrived from the south. Before 
they leave for the north to breed they often do 
the same thing by day, and it is only when in the 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 145 

mood for this that snipe are on the wing by day, 
except when put up. When hovering, the snipe 
poise themselves in the air at a considerable height, 
and, suddenly dropping or darting away, make 
this noise with their wings; then they make another 
hover, and then another dart. AY hen in this humor, 
the snipe will not lie to dogs nor to be walked up 
within shot, and no sport is to be had. They 
usually do it on still, cloudy days. I have seen 
statements to the effect that at such times snipe 
will alight on fences, stumps, and the topmost 
boughs of trees. I can only say, touching these 
statements, that my experience is all the other 
way. I have been many years in a part of the 
country where the snipe are found in amazing 
abundance every spring and fall ; I have seen them 
hovering hundreds of times, when hundreds of 
them were at it in the air ; but I never saw one 
alight on a tree or a fence or on anything but 
the ground. I have, I think, been a close observer 
of the habits of such game-birds as frequented 
^Illinois. My living depended on it, in some de- 
gree. This thing, however, I never saw a snipe 
do, and I feel quite certain that snipe in Illinois 
never do it. I do not say that the authors of the 
statements in question have made wilful misrepre- 



146 FIELD SHOOTING. 

sentations, but I do say that they may have been 
mistaken, and that the birds which alighted on 
trees while the snipe were hovering and bleating 
were not snipe. It is the easiest thing in the world 
to see snipe hovering in the spring in places where 
they abound. Take a day in April when the sun 
is not bright and there is a hazy atmosphere. 
On such a day the snipe arc at it nearly all day 
long. There will be first one and then another 
going through with this performance, and you 
may sometimes hear three or four at it at once, 
though not very close together. I have never 
met a man who had seen, or pretended to have 
seen, a snipe alight on a tree or fence at this or 
any other time. 

Snipe begin to arrive with us in the fall, about 
the middle of October, but they do not come 
down from the north in large numbers so early 
as that date. At the last of October they are 
commonly plentiful, but are not found in the places 
where they were so abundant in the spring. In 
the fall there are not one-fourth as many in the^ 
bottoms of Salt Creek and the Sangamon as there 
are in April. Neither are they so well distribut- 
ed over the country along the sloughs. In go- 
ing south they keep more to the lines of the big 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 147 

rivers, and perhaps many of them keep more to 
the eastward in their southern migration than they 
do in coming north. I am inclined to think that 
this last must he the case, for the birds are not 
anything like as numerous in the fall, when the 
broods come, as they were in the spring, when 
the snipe went north to breed. The best fall 
snipe-shooting with us is along the bottoms of 
the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and about the 
marshes of the great Winnebago Swamp. Here 
the sportsman may have good shooting until late 
in the fall — I may say, in some seasons, until the 
beginning of winter, for the snipe do not leave 
altogether until the ground is frozen. When that 
happens, they go southwards. In Illinois there is 
some marshy ground which the snipe do not like. 
Most of the land in that State, being rich loam 
or vegetable alluvial, suits them well ; but in some 
places there is sand or gravel as well as much 
moisture, and neither of these does the snipe seem 
to like. I suppose the favorite food in these 
soils is scarce, and in all probability the birds do 
not like to bore in gritty ground. A few may 
be found scattered in wet places on such soils, 
but at the same time they lie in thousands along 
the loamy bottoms and in the marshes. In these 



148 FTELD STTOOTTNO. 

latter the soil is usually vegetable mould, the rich, 
black deposit commonly called swamp-muck. In 
this the snipe delights above all. Snipe afford a 
vast amount of sport, but the sport itself de- 
mands for its proper pursuit very considerable 
endurance and hardihood. The snipe-shooter must 
expect to be wet and to be fatigued, but he may 
also count upon making a good bag. It is one 
of the most delicious birds that flies, certainly 
second to none but the upland-plover and one or 
two sorts of duck. Many think it second to none 
whatever, and I doubt if it is when in prime order 
and properly cooked and served. In places where 
snipe are not plentiful it is no doubt advisable 
to use a dos; to beat the meadows and marshes, 
and point them ; but such is not the case where 
1 have been accustomed to shoot. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRxVY PLOVER. 

In the West we have in the spring and fall 
great numbers of the golden plover — a beautiful 
bird, testing the skill and patience of the sports- 
man, and one that is very delicate and rich eating 
on the table. It is stated, in some books I have 
looked into, that the golden plover is essentially 
a shore bird. This is a great error, if the same 
species is meant, for it visits Illinois and Iowa, 
and I doubt not the country further west, in 
prodigious numbers. It is called the golden 
plover from being speckled with yellow on the 
back of the head and neck. Its principal colors 
are not at all like gold ; and when the birds are 
seen in flocks on the grass-lands they love to 
frequent, the golden spots cannot be distinguished. 
It is a handsome bird, graceful in shape, and 
quite plump. The golden plover is not quite as 
large as a quail, but almost, when fat. The male 
is dark in color, with white spots on the breast, 
and narrow white streaks on the cheeks. The 

149 



150 FIELD SHOOTING. 

female is gray, and a little smaller than the male. 
This bird winters in the south, principally upon 
the great grassy ranges of Texas and Northern 
Mexico. It arrives in the prairie States about 
ten days after the snipe, commonly about the 
tenth of April; but much depends on the 
forwardness or backwardness of the spring. 
With us there is a variation of some three 
weeks between a very forward spring and one 
that is very late. The golden plover forms one 
of the most numerous bodies of the great mi- 
gratory hordes which come north at the end of 
the winter. They come in flocks, some of the 
latter, on their arrival, being as many as three 
or four hundred in number. At their first 
coming they dre to be found on the burnt prairies, 
and soon after they will be seen in ploughed 
fields and on bare pastures. They also frequent 
young wheat which is then fairly started, and in 
those spots where the plant has been drowned 
out or killed by the frost these birds are sure 
to be found. They like the bare earth and the 
close-eaten pastures, especially those in certain 
localities. From high knolls, where the grass 
has been eaten off' short, they can sometimes be 
hardly driven away. In sheep pastures the plover 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 151 

are usually found at the proper season ; for the 
sheep is a close feeder, and likes to range on 
knolls and hills. Along with the golden plover, 
and apparently intimately associated with them 
and forming part of the flocks, comes the cur- 
lew, another handsome and delicious bird. It is 
a little larger than the golden plover, stouter in 
build, and gray in color. In size and shape the 
curlew resembles a well-grown woodcock, but with 
longer wings and a thimier head. It has a bill 
about two inches long, curved in shape, and is not 
so high on the leg as its companion, the golden 
plover. They may be easily distinguished from 
each other when the flock is on the ground, and 
also when in flight. The curlew affords as good 
sport to the shooter as the plover, and the epi- 
cure, who really knows how good it is, esteems it 
as a dish dainty and delicate as the golden plover 
itself, though, perhaps, not quite so delicious as 
the gray or upland plover, of which I shall treat 
further on. In the curlew there is no apparent 
difference between the male and female. In some 
flocks it will be found to be nearly as numerous as 
the plover, while in others the latter are in a large 
majority. When in the spring ploughing the rich 
soil of our prairie States is turned up, a vast 



152 FIELD SHOOTING. 

number of fat worms are thrown to the surface. 
To pick up and feed upon these, the golden 
plover and curlew will be seen following the 
ploughman along the farrow. Sometimes they fly 
a little ahead of the plough and team, some- 
times abreast of them, and all the time some are 
wheeling and curling round and dropping in the 
furrow which has just been made. At such times 
these birds occasionally become so bold and 
tame that they come quite close to the horses, 
and I have known some to be knocked down and 
killed by the driving-boys with their whips. As 
a matter of course, this is rather uncommon ; but 
their boldness and tameness, when ploughing is 
going on, is in strong contrast to their timidity 
and wariness on other occasions. They seem to 
be sagacious enough to know that where the men 
and teams are ploughing there can be no shooting, 
and they take advantage of that fact. 

The best places for shooting golden plover and 
curlew in the earlier part of their stay with us 
are the burnt ground of the prairies, where the 
grass is beginning to quicken, and those close- 
eaten and bare spots in the pastures of which I 
have made mention. It will be best, when going 
for these birds, to take a dog to bring in wounded 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 1 ~)o 

ones. At their first arrival the flocks of plover 
and curlew are rather wild and difficult to get 
at. In their sojourn on, and long flights from, 
the plains of Texas across Arkansas, and along 
the Mississippi River to Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, 
and Kansas, they have not been accustomed to 
the neighborhood of men, and at first they are 
shy. But if not shot at and frequently disturbed, 
they soon get tame, and may be approached. 
But some knowledge of their habits and some 
craft are always requisite in order to get good 
chances at these shifty and cunning birds. On 
some days the flocks will be much on the wing, 
flying from one field to another, and all going in 
one direction, as wild pigeons do. At such times 
the shooter may take a stand in the line of flight, 
and get fair shooting all day as the flocks go over. 
It is not necessary to hide altogether ; in fact, in 
these localities — the burnt prairies and great pas- 
tures — there is seldom the means to do so; but 
it is often desirable to lie down. Here again 
it must be observed that it is of no use to lie 
down in clothes strongly in contrast as to color 
with the ground or grass. The golden plover 
and curlew are low-flying birds, and, when lying 
down in about the line of flight, the shooter may 



154 TIELD SHOOTING. 

sometimes get a side shot at a large, close flock, 
and kill eight or ten with his two barrels. Some- 
times the birds skim on not above four or five 
feet from the ground. At other times they fly 
pretty high, but within fair shot; and when one- 
barrel of the gun is discharged, the whole flock 
will come swooping down towards the earth, as 
if the shot had killed them all. In that case it 
is very difficult to put in the second barrel with 
good effect. When they fly low and present side 
shots is the most favorable time to pepper them. 

At the shooting on the pastures where the 
birds have made their temporary home it will 
sometimes be found that the golden plover and 
curlew are not flying in flocks in one direction 
in such a manner that you can select a place in 
the line of flight. It is then best to go with a 
horse and buggy. The horse should be a steady 
one, so as to stand fire, and should also be capable 
of going at a good rate, as speed is one of 
the elements of success in driving for plover. 
The birds will be seen flying about in various 
directions over the wide pasture, and settled in 
bunches on it. When put on the wing at such 
times, they always settle in a cluster nearly close 
together, and put up their head as though taking 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 155 

a survey of the ground. When they do this at 
a proper distance, the horse must be put to a 
swift trot in such a direction as you would take 
if going past the plover on your own sharp 
business. Judge the ground and estimate the 
distance, so that when you are abreast of the 
flock it will be within shot. The birds, in such 
a case, will not rise until the horse stops, and 
sometimes, if the shooter is quick and prompt, 
he may get a crack at them with one barrel just 
as they are upon the point of leaving the ground, 
and before they are actually on the wing. When 
a shot can be got while they are thus huddled 
together, many may be killed. There is no scruple 
about shooting at these birds in this manner among 
sportsmen, but few have the art and promptness 
to manage it. The horse must be fast. He 
must trot up at a swift pace. You must judge 
the distance nicely, for you cannot swerve 
out of the line and in upon the birds with- 
out causing them to take wing. Finally, the horse 
must be one that will obey a light touch of the 
rein, and stop rather suddenly without a jerk. 
When shooting plover on foot at such times as 
they are acting after the habit described above, 
the sportsman must follow the same plan in 



15(3 FIELD shooting;. 

principle. Instead of driving up, as if going by, 
he must run fast, as if intending to jDass, and 
must not incline his course in towards the flock. 
These "birds seem to act as if they reasoned and 
arrived at certain conclusions. These conclusions 
■would be correct enough if the craft of the man 
"were not exerted to deceive them by false appear- 
ances. When the shooter is abreast of the flock, 
he must come to a stop, and, making a quarter- 
whirl, fire quickly. He must be quick, for the 
moment he stops in his forward course up gets 
the flock. I never knew a man who would not 
thus circumvent and shoot among a flock of golden 
plover and curlew in this manner, if he had the 
skill to achieve an opportunity to do so. I have 
heard men say they never killed any plover except 
on. the wing. I can readily believe it ; and will 
add, very few in any way. All I can say is that 
I should not like to be the plover when these 
parties had a chance to put in a barrel under such 
circumstances as those above described. The 
horse and buggy is the easiest way to go to work, 
and that itself is somewhat difficult. The man 
who undertakes to run up must be swift of foot, 
good in the wind, and so steady of nerve that he 
will not be flustered and his hand will not shake 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 157 

when he stops suddenly and whirls to shoot. When, 
by a shot at the flock on the wing, two or three 
of the plover or curlew are crippled, the others 
will circle round them, and often offer chances 
for capital shots. The breech-loading gun is in- 
valuable in such circumstances as these. On one 
such occasion I remember having killed forty-two 
golden plover and curlew, all shot on the wing, 
before I picked up one of them. Many a time 1 
have killed as many as fourteen or fifteen without 
lifting a bird, there being opportunities to load 
and fire again and again while the plover swept 
and circled over the dead and wounded of their 
own flock. Sometimes the flocks of golden plover 
and curlew are so numerous in a neighborhood, so 
largo in extent, and fly in such a way, that a great 
number may be killed in a short time. I remem- 
ber one such time well. It is now twelve years 
ago, and at that period there was a great deal of 
unbroken prairie in the neighborhood of Elkhart. 
I started out after dinner from that place, and 
drove two miles into the prairie. It had just been 
burned over, and large flocks of plover and curlew 
were coming in one after the other. That after- 
noon I killed two ' hundred and sixty-four plover 
and curlew, and got back to Elkhart at sundown. 



158 FIELD SHOOTING. 

I got a few sitting shots on that occasion, but the 
vast majority of the birds were killed on the 
wing, while ■ circling round their wounded com- 
panions. This was done with a muzzle-loader. 
"With a good breech-loader and plenty of cart- 
ridges I believe I could have killed five hundred 
birds that afternoon. Much of the prairie about 
there, which was then unbroken, has been broken 
up, and is now wheat, corn, and oat land. The 
golden plover and curlew are not as numerous in 
that neighborhood now as they were then. Still, 
there are plenty of them in the right season of the 
year. Of late years I have generally killed from 
fifty to two hundred plover and curlew a day 
when out after them especially. This means 
golden plover, as I never shoot the gray or grass 
plover in the spring, for a reason I shall presently 
advance. My bag has seldom been less than fifty, 
and not often as high as two hundred, and I have 
commonly shot right along during the season, pre- 
ferring to do so rather than to go after snipe 
to the Sangamon and Salt Creek bottoms. The 
golden plover and curlew are highly esteemed by 
the high-livers of the cities. There is a constant 
demand for them at Chicago, and good prices are 
obtained when they first come in. 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 15!> 

Golden plover and curlew may be found almost 
anywhere in the prairie States in April. As I 
stated briefly in the chapters on pinnated grouse, 
I once went on a three months' shooting-excursion 
to Christian County, Illinois, starting about the 
first of February. My shooting companion was 
a hunter named Joe Phillips, and we had for 
camp-keeper a lively, jovial fellow named Ben 
Powell. The. latter has acted as camp-keeper for 
me many years. We pitched our tent about 
a couple of miles from the town of Assumption, 
and the report was soon spread in that primitive 
Western village that we were a band of gipsies. 
One evening a bevy of brown, blushing girls ar- 
rived at the camp and demanded information as 
to where the gipsy women were.. They wanted 
to have their fortunes told, and could hardly be 
persuaded that we were simply hunters and of 
the same race of people as themselves. After- 
wards some of the men of the village came, and, 
in conversation with Powell during the absence 
of Phillips and myself, boasted of a great shot 
they had among them. The people of the region 
were almost all agriculturists and herdsmen, and 
as for shooting game on the wing, they hardly 
knew what it was. The man, who had settled 



100 FIELD SHOOTING. 

among them from a distance, professed himself a 
great pigeon-shot. Powell listened to the wonders 
this man could perform, and then enquired whether 
they would like to back him to shoot pigeons against 
one of the field-shooters of our party. They said 
they would, and the preliminaries of a match 
were arranged, in which Powell was to put up 
our team of ponies and wagon against a hundred 
dollars cash on the other side. But the .match 
was not confirmed ; for while the discussion was 
still going on Phillips, and I returned to camp 
from our hunt, and this broke it off. One of the 
Assumption men had seen me before somewhere, 
and had heard my shooting well spoken of. lie 
caused his townsmen to draw back. I have no 
idea that the man they spoke of was much of a 
shot. lie very likely could not kill sixty birds 
in a hundred at eighteen yards rise. 

During the time we shot in Christian County 
Phillips and 1 kept separate accounts of the game 
we killed. In the three months I killed with my 
own gun over six thousand head of game-birds. 
They included pinnated grouse, brant, geese, ducks, 
cranes, golden plover and curlew, snipe, and a few 
sand-snipe. The largest number were golden plo- 
ver and curlew, and the next on the list was snipe. 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 161 

On that occasion, in one afternoon, I killed sev- 
enty-nine clucks, brant, and Canada geese; and 
Phillips made a good bag the same day. It 
sometimes Dills out so that waterfowl or other 
birds of pursuit are so numerous and act in such 
a way that a very large number may be killed. 
These occasions do not happen, however, very 
often. 

After the golden plover and curlew have re- 
mained with us some time in the spring, they are 
no longer seen in large flocks, but are found 
scattered and distributed over the country in 
small companies numbering from three or four to 
twelve. Early in the morning these companies 
are found on the bare pastures. By eight or 
nine in the morning they will have gone to the 
arable land, and are following the plough in the 
furrow. After they have partially dispersed in 
this manner they fly very fast, and then they are 
exceedingly good practice for the skilful shooter. 
The man who can make nearly certain of his 
single plover, flying swift, as they do, after the 
large flocks have broken up and scattered, is a 
good man at any kind of shooting. I prefer it 
to any other kind of practice. Before shooting 
against Abraham Kleinman for the championship 



1G2 FIELD SHOOTING. 

badge of the United States, at one hundred 
pigeons each, I took two weeks' practice at plo- 
ver. They were then scattered, and 1 shot at none 
but single birds. The practice was of much ser- 
vice, as the plover flew very swift and did not 
present a large mark. From what I could do 
with them in the field I was satisfied I should 
win the match, and it so turned out. I killed 
the whole of the hundred pigeons in the match ; 
ninety-three of them were scored to me, and the 
other seven fell dead out of bounds. From the 
time the great flocks of plover scatter, which is 
sometimes as early as the twentieth of April, 
practice at single, fast-flying birds, such as I have 
mentioned, may be had until they go north to 
their breeding-grounds in the higher latitudes. 

We now come to the upland or highland, 
grass, gray, or whistling plover, which, according 
to scientific naturalists, is no plover at all, strictly 
speaking, but a bird of similar habits and ap- 
pearance, called Bartram's tatler. As it is known 
among sportsmen as a plover only, I shall call 
it one. This bird is a little larger than the 
golden plover, and a little longer in the leg; it 
is also more upright and has a longer neck than 
the other. Its color is gray. It is a very 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 1G3 

handsome bird, and neither the woods, the fields, 
nor the waters of the American continent supply 
a more delicious repast than is afforded by a 
dish of these rich and delicate birds. They 
winter upon the great plains of Mexico and 
Texas, upon both banks of the Rio Grande, and 
are in large numbers, though not so numerous 
as the golden plover and curlew. The upland 
plover is the last of the spring migrants from the 
south, and when it is seen with us we may 
safely predict that there will be no more cold 
weather. Its arrival in the prairie States is 
generally ten days later than that of the first 
of the united flocks of golden plover and cur- 
lew. While it lingers longer in the south than 
they, there is a corresponding difference in the 
limits of its visits to the north. They go on 
to higher latitudes to breed, after having stayed 
about a month with us. The upland plover 
breeds with us, though many, no doubt, go far 
north of Illinois to do so. Indeed, it is found 
in the summer in Minnesota, and Manitoba, in the 
British Territory. The upland plover makes a soft, 
whistling noise when put up, reminding one of Burns's 

■ ' Full-toned plover gray, 
Wild whistling o'er the hill." 



164 FIELD SHOOTING. 

It is a dodging, cunning bird, but, when it 
first arrives in the latter part of April, it is 
very tame and very easily shot. I never shoot it 
at that season, and no one ought to do so ; for 
the birds are ready to pair as soon as they 
reach their breeding-grounds on our prairies. It 
builds in the grass of the prairie pastures, on 
the ground, its nest being made of dead grass, and 
commonly under a tussock. The eggs are a pale, 
bluish green, freckled with brown, and I do not 
think the. hen usually lays more than three. I 
have a sort of remembrance that I have seen nests 
with four eggs in them, but I made no notes of 
them at the time, and am not quite certain. The 
young birds grow fast, and get fat on abun- 
dance of grasshoppers and other insects which 
swarm in the hot months with us. About the 
first of Sej^tember the upland plover, young and 
old, are fine, plump birds, and are far more diffi- 
cult to shoot than the breeding-birds were when 
they reached the Western States in the spring. 
In the fall they are wild and wary, full of craft 
and cunning, and hardly to be approached by a 
man on foot, especially if he has a gun. 
Almost the only way to get near enough to them 
to shoot is by means of a horse and buggy. 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 1G5 

They arc to be found in scattered group.-;, we 
may say thin flocks, on pastures and meadows 
that have been mowee[. The upland plover in its 
flight takes much more open order than the 
golden plover and cifrlew, though still keeping a 
sort of companionship, and it docs not settle in 
clusters, as is the habit of those birds. They 
run, scattering about over the pastures and mea- 
dows, catching grasshoppers and such like insects, 
and, when put up, they fly off swift, in open or- 
der, well spread out. The sportsman who is 
after them with the horse and buggy must pursue 
the same tactics as those mentioned in reference to 
shooting golden plover and curlew in the spring. 
The horse must go fast, and the man must shoot 
the moment he stops. I never try to step to, 
the ground, hut shoot from the buggy. It is 
best to have a companion when after these wild 
and wary birds. While one men lies down in a 
selected spot, the other drives round to the far 
side of the birds, and gets his shot if he can. 
Whether he does or not, the plover will be apt 
to fly over the man lying down. This is the 
only system which promises any success for men 
who are alter upland plover on foot in the fall 
of the year. It is of no use chasing after them 



106 FIELD SHOOTING. 

over the meadows and pastures, in hopes to get 
near enough for a shot. 

Sand-snipe and grass snipe (so-called in the 
West) are not snipe, but some sorts of tatlers 
or sand-pipers. They resemble the plover, but 
are smaller, being only about the size of a true 
snipe. The sand-snipe has a whitish breast; the 
grass-snipe is a gray bird. They come about the 
same time as golden plover and curlew, and in 
pretty large flocks. In dry seasons these flocks 
appear to unite, two or three making but one, 
and then they are in very large numbers together. 
They are nice, plump birds, as good to cat as 
plover, and easy to get at. However, good as they 
are, few people shoot them, and it is easy enough 
to get within range of a flock of them. They 
frequent marshy ground, such as the true snipe 
likes. Unlike the latter, however, they fly in 
flocks, and settle down, clustered together, on the 
muddy edges of sloughs and little water-holes, 
which they see while crossing the prairie on the 
wing. Once, when I was out shooting golden plo- 
ver and curlew, 1 saw a great flock of these 
smaller birds in a marshy spot near a little j>ond. 
1 thought they were plover, but as I neared them 
the flock rose, and then I saw it Mas a vast col- 



UOLDKN l'LOVKR, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 167 

lection of sand-snipe. It was a dry season, and, 
as is then their wont, they had gathered into great 
flocks. They flew around, and finally settled again. 
I do not usually trouble myself with this bird, 
for nobody seems to care about it, although it is 
as good eating as the snipe itself, for all the long 
bill of the latter; but as I had come down to 
them, 1 concluded to take a crack at the flock. 
It was certainly as much as five hundred in num- 
ber. So I let fly with one barrel charged with 
No. 10, and, making a raking shot over the ground, 
killed fifty-four. If game were scarce with us, as 
it is in some parts, sand-snipe and grass-snipe 
would be held in esteem, 



CHAPTER X. 

WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 

The best of the ducks which are found in the 
Western States are Canvas-backs, Redheads, Mal- 
lards, Pintails, Blue-bells, Blue and Green winged 
Teal, Widgeon, and Black Ducks. There are also 
Wood-ducks, which, though most beautiful in plu- 
mage, are not very fine on the table. Some are, 
however, shot for the sake of their feathers, which 
are exported to England, where the brilliant hues 
of part of their plumage are used in the manu- 
facture of artificial flies for salmon and trout fish- 
ing. And besides the species mentioned above, 
there are two or three ducks of other sorts, which, 
being scarce and comparatively worthless, are of 
no account to the sportsman, and need not be 
further alluded to in this work. The wood-duck 
breeds in Illinois and the other Western States 
along the rivers and creeks, and always in or on 
the edge of timber. It is rather numerous along 
the Sangamon and the shores of Salt Creek. They 
make their nests in hollows of trees, and are the 

163 



AVILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 1(59 

only kind of ducks which, to my knowledge, ever 
alight in trees. It is very beautiful, having gor- 
geous plumage, with a topknot on the head. The 
female hatches from eight to twelve young in a 
brood, and carries them off one by one to the 
water. The wood-duck is short, small, and stout, 
weighing about a pound and a half, and is not 
much prized for the table. It is very swift in 
flight, and can go through timber like a wild pigeon 
or a ruffed grouse. 

Of the ducks to be found with us, the most 
numerous, and perhaps the best, is the mallard. 
I consider it quite equal to the canvas-back in 
juiciness and flavor, and also to the redhead or 
pochard. Jt is true that so much has been writ- 
ten and said about the unrivalled excellence of the 
canvas-back that it may seem heretical to main- 
tain that the mallard is as good. Such, however, 
is my own conviction; and though some say that 
the canvas-backs of the West have not the pecu- 
liar flavor of those procured on the sea-coast in 
shallow waters, others, whose experience of them 
in both localities is large, say this is an error, 
arising from prejudice and imagination. The edi- 
tor of this work states some facts which go to 
fortify me in my opinion. lie says that when 



170 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Senator Pugh was in Washington, representing the 
State of Ohio, this question of the superiority of 
the canvas-backs of the East over those which 
had fed and got fat on the wild rice and wild 
celery of the West was mooted at a supper in 
which canvas-backs were the chief dish. All those 
practically unacquainted with the Western ducks 
laughed at the notion that they could compare in 
excellence with those of Maryland. Mr. Pugh was 
rather deaf, as he always has been, but he seems 
to have heard the observations in question, though 
he did not contradict them then. He wrote, 
however, to a friend of his, then collector at San- 
dusky, on the shallow bay of that name in Lake 
Erie, a noted resort for Western wild fowl, re- 
questing him to send to Washington a few couple 
of fat canvas-backs. In due time they arrived, 
and the gentlemen of the party who had met 
before were invited by the senator to supper. 
He had procured some fine canvas-backs from 
Baltimore, and he took good care his guests K 
should know it. But before the ducks were cooked 
those from Ohio were substituted for those of 
the Patapsco. They were served up, eaten with 
groat relish, and the usual paeans of praise, and 
not, a man at the table except Senator Pugh 



WILD DUCKS AN'l) Wi:sTERNT DUCK-SIIOOTINO, 171 

knew that they had feasted on Western ducks 
until told so the next day. Even then they were 
hardly convinced. Another matter in this connec- 
tion is that the very able and well-informed 
author, Dr. Sharpless, of Philadelphia, stated that 
he could never distinguish much difference in 
flavor between canvas-backs and redheads, and 
that many of the latter were sold as canvas-backs 
and eaten as such by those who professed to know 
all about the divine flavor. The editor of this 
work has often received canvas-back ducks from 
Mr. Saliagnac, of Philadelphia, who rents shootings 
on the coast. The canvas-backs sent to him by 
that gentleman were in truth very excellent, but 
neither he nor any one else who partook of them 
thought them superior to some mallards which had 
been killed in a wheat-stubble in Iowa, and were 
sent on as a present by Mr. James Bruce, of 
Keokuk, now of St. Louis, Missouri. Moreover, 
Mr. Saliagnac himself, great sportsman and en- 
thusiastic admirer of canvas-backs as he is, told 
the editor that his breed of tame ducks, the 
large, white upland Muscovy, were just about as 
fine eating as canvas-backs when fattened and killed 
at the right time, and cooked in the same way. 
Of course all this will be hooted at by those 



172 FIELD BIIOOTING, 

who have made the wonderful, exquisite, unparal- 
leled excellence of the canvas-back a matter of 
superstition. It is indeed as excellent as any 
duck, and for luscious richness the ducks at least 
equal any other description of bird. The canvas- 
back is a great deal better in proportion to the 
praises heaped upon it than the brook-trout is ; 
for whatever sport they may give to the angler, 
the " speckled beauties " are nothing like as good 
to eat as many other fish not thought much of. 
[Fashion, however, goes a great way in these mat- 
ters, and few are as candid as the Irishman, who, 
having gone some distance in a sedan-chair with- 
out a seat, replied, in answer to the question 
how he liked it : 

" Faith, but for the name of the thing I might 
as well have walked ! " 

The mallards winter in the south for the most 
part, though a few remain on the Sangamon all 
the cold season, unless the weather is very in- 
tense and the frost so long continued and rigid 
as to freeze up all the springy pools of th&t 
river. When they come north in the spring, a 
few remain with us and make their nests in the 
Winnebago Swamp and the bottoms of the San- 
gamon River and Salt Creek. But the vast ma- 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTINQ. 173 

jority, after remaining with ns some time, go 
still further north to breed and rear their young. 
Their northern limit is in a very high latitude. 
The mallard is the most beautiful of all ducks, 
except the wood-duck, and naturalists are agreed 
that the common breeds of domesticated ducks 
have sprung from the former. It crosses readily 
enough with tame ducks, to my knowledge, and 
the produce of the cross are prolific, though wild 
and apt to go away with the wild mallards in 
the fall. The mallards with us make their 
nests about the middle of April in an average 
season. When out snipe-shooting about the 1st 
of May, I have found mallards' nests already 
containing seven or eight eggs. The nests are 
built near the water in some secluded marsh or 
lonely swamp, on tussocks of grass near the edges 
of sloughs, and m wet river-bottoms. And some- 
times I have found the nest of the mallard on the 
margin of a pond in the prairie or the pasture 
fields. The nest is nicely made of dry grass 
and sedge, and by the time the female is ready 
to sit it is lined with soft, loose feathers, just 
as the nest of the tame duck is. The es^s are 
from twelve to sixteen in number, in color of 
a greenish blue cast, and very much like those 



174 FIELD SHOOTING. 

of the tame clucks which lay greenish blue eggs. 
The eggs of some sorts of tame clucks are a 
shining white, as if glazed. The broods of young 
mallards, the flappers, are first seen about the 
10th of June. There are commonly from eight to 
twelve in a brood. The little things are active 
and cunning from the first. If they are pursued, 
they dart swiftly under water, and, swimming 
beneath to the bank, just put their bills above 
the surface and lie quiet. When they are some- 
what bigger, they go out upon the margins of 
the streams and ponds, and hide in the grass. 
About the middle of October the young mal- 
lards are full grown and well feathered so as to 
be able to flv fast and far. The drake is a 
little larger than the cluck, and a large one will 
weigh nearly three pounds. Widgeon and the 
two kinds of teal also breed with us to some 
extent, but their nests are seldom found. In the 
Winnebago Swamp there are a few nests of the 
broadbill or spoonbill. The pintail does not breed 
with us, and 1 believe not on this side of the 
arctic regions. 

If the winter is broken, the ducks begin to 
arrive from the south by the middle of Feb- 
ruary, and in an early spring they are found in 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 175 

thousands by tho 1st of March. When they first 
come to the prairie States in the spring, they 
are in poor condition, but after feeding about tho 
corn-fields a short time they become plump and 
fat. Ducks, wild and tame alike, are great feed- 
ers, and will be found eating in the evening 
long after other birds have gone to roost. The 
mallards and pintails fly from their roosting- 
places on the water to the fields at early morn- 
ing, and on wet, cloudy days remain in the 
corn-fields all day. They are so numerous that 
the fields appear at such times to have ducks 
scattered all over them. On clear days they do 
not remain in the fields on the feed all day, 
but return to their haunts on the water about 
nine or ten o'clock. In the afternoon they fly 
to the corn-fields again about three or four o'clock, 
when they first come from the south; but after 
being with us some time their evening flight to 
the fields is not made till sundown, and some- 
times not till it is nearly dark. The mallards are 
then paired off, but not so the pintails. When 
not in the corn-fields, both kinds are about rivers 
and ponds. 

The blue-winged teal and the green-winged, 
with the widsreon, use more about sloughs and 



17(> fip:ld choctist;. 

streams. They do not come into the corn-fields 
much, and are shot along rivers and creeks. 
I have, however, seen these small ducks flying to 
the corn-fields when it was nearly dark. At times, 
when ponds in corn-fields are enlarged by rains, 
and the low j)laces in the fields are overflowed, 
many teal resort to them. From such places, at 
break of day, I have often put up hundreds of 
teal and hundreds of other kinds of ducks. A 
great many teal and small ducks, such as blue- 
bills, are shot on the Calumet River, and Abe 
Kleinman gets his full share of them. Mallards, 
canvas-backs, and red-heads are sometimes shot 
there too, but the smaller ducks are those which 
commonly prevail. The spring ducks remain with 
us from four to five weeks, but after the great 
multitudes have gone north some straggling 
parties still remain. Mallards pair by the middle 
of March, and the teal next. The other kinds 
of ducks are later, and I do not think they have 
paired up to the time of their leaving our lati- 
tudes for the higher ones in which they breed 
in most cases. 

About the last of September the ducks begin 
to arrive from their breeding-grounds in the far 
north. Some are seen before 1hat time, but they 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 177 

are those which have stopped with us to breed, 
and the broods they have produced. There is no 
great abundance from the arrivals until pretty 
sharp frosts have set in, which is generally about 
the middle of October, but some seasons not till 
later. Still the main body seems to hold off, 
and it is not until cold weather has set in 
fairly that the ducks come in vast numbers. Then 
they may be heard all night flying to the south- 
ward in large flocks, and a great many alight 
and tarry by the way. Sometimes the whole 
country appears to swarm with them. In places 
on the prairies and the great pastures where 
corn in the ear is dumped down by wagon- 
loads to feed bullocks, I have seen acres 
thickly covered with Canada geese, brant geese, 
mallards, and pintails. As a rule, shooting is not 
allowed in such places, because it scares the 
cattle ; but the owners and herdsmen have some- 
times shifted their droves to another place, in 
order to give me a chance to shoot the wild 
fowl congregated thereabouts. Then I have had 
grand spots. 

The fall ducks remain until the country is 
mostly frozen up ; and in an open fall they are 
with us in large numbers until nearly Christmas. 



ITS FIELD SHOOTIXG. 

Some mallards stay on the Sangamon all the 
winter, unless the season happens to be particu- 
larly severe and the cold very steady and in- 
tense. When the fall ducks arrive, they are in 
fine condition, having fed on the wild rice of 
the north, and the young mallards are delicious 
eating at that time. I know of nothing better, 
and of hardly anything else as good. 

Duck-shooting is often rough, wet work. 
About the rivers and sloughs it is necessary to 
be more or less in the water, unless the shooter 
has a boat; besides which, the ducks secured are 
necessarily wet and draggled. Shooting ducks in 
the corn-fields, as they come to feed, is differ- 
ent. The shooter can usually manage to keep 
tolerably dry, and the ducks shot fall on the 
ground instead of in the water. But even then 
it requires considerable fortitude and much skill 
and patience. People who want to sit by the 
fire on cold, wet days, when the wind blows 
strong and keen, are not cut out for duck- 
shooters. When I go out for duck-shooting on 
their feeding-grounds, I first ascertain by observa- 
tion the fields they are flying to and from, and 
the places they cross the bounds at. Ducks are 
like sheep in some respects. Whore one flock flics 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 179 

the others follow, keeping the same general route, 
unless they see something to make them swerve 
from it. 1 then select the best spot I can find to 
lie down in — that is, the one most screened from ob- 
servation and beneath the line of flight. A rub- 
ber blanket being spread, down I go on my back, in 
clothes the color of the grass or ground I lie on. 
This is an essential point. It is useless to expect 
the ducks to continue their flight over an object 
in dark clothes lying upon faded grass, or over a 
man in light clothes lying upon black ground. My 
shooting suit is corduroy, with a cap of the same ; 
and as it is about the color of the grass, corn- 
stalks, and weeds late in the fall, it answers very 
well. If the shooter has no corduroy clothes, let 
him wear a linen duster over his dark clothes. 
The latter may do very well for a patch of black 
ground in a corn-field, or a dark ground at a 
crossing-place ; but usually corduroy can be made 
to suit anywhere by a little care in selection, 
because dead grass and weeds nearly everywhere 
prevail. A man in dark clothes by a pond in 
the prairie would not get a duck in a day, no 
matter how numerous they might be in the 
neighborhood. Ducks are wary birds and very 
far-sighted. But some men seem to believe that 



180 FIELD SHOOTING. 

the ducks are as foolish and as thoughtless as 
themselves. They post themselves in places 
where the color of their clothes is in strong 
contrast with everything else around ; and when 
the ducks sheer off wide as soon as they see 
them, the shooters in question blaze away out of 
distance, and never touch a feather. I have been 
out with men under circumstances in which they 
said that the ducks all came to me as if they 
knew me. The simple cause of it was that I 
lay down in a suit of • corduroy, and they were 
stretched out in clothes black enough for a 
funeral. If a man going to shoot ducks on the 
prairie, by the ponds and sloughs, has no corduroy 
clothes and no duster, let him go to the grocery- 
store and get a coffee-sack or two to make a 
smock. That material is just the right color. 

In regard to corn-fields, it must be noted that 
the ducks appear to frequent those most in which 
the stalks are broken down. In these no blind 
can be made. If one is made, the ducks will not 
come near it. The shooter must be down on his 
back, his feet towards the quarter from which the 
ducks are coming, and wait until they get over 
him. In a field where the corn-stalks are still 
standing a thin blind may be made of them, but 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 181 

more ducks, other things being equal, will be 
killed in the broken-down corn without a blind 
than in the other with one. When the shooter sees 
the ducks coming, he must not move himself, nor 
must he move his gun, which young beginners 
always have a strong inclination to do. If the 
man moves, the ducks approaching in the air see 
his movement. If the gun is moved, they catch 
the glance of the light upon it in time to sheer 
off' and balk the idle discharge of the too im- 
patient shooter. When the ducks are seen com 
ing, the man on the ground should lie quite still 
until they are over him, or almost over him. He 
should then rise quickly to a sitting posture, at 
which they will check their forward flight, and 
tower up into the air. That is the right time to 
shoot — I may say the only time, in this descrip- 
tion of the sport, in which there is a real good 
chance of killing. He who is trying for ducks 
in this way must not expect to be able to get on 
his feet to shoot. If he tries to do so, he will 
kill no ducks. He who cannot rise to a sitting 
posture from his back and shoot that way must 
wait for the ducks on his hands and knees, and 
shoot kneeling. It does not much matter which 
of those modes is adopted — although lying on the 



182 FIELD SHOOTING. 

back is the best of the two — but it is essential 
that the shooter should make no move until the 
ducks are nearly over him. It is also abso- 
lutely necessary that his clothes should be of the 
color of the ground he lies on, for otherwise the 
ducks never will be over him. I have killed many 
thousands, and consider these to be the great 
points upon which the sport depends. When 
there is snow on the ground, the overdress of the 
shooter should be white, or nearly white, and a 
white handkerchief should be tied over his cap. 
At times when there is snow on the ground the 
ducks resort largely to the corn-fields, and the 
sport in them at such times is usually very good, 
provided the shooters carry it on in the right 
way. 



CHAPTER XI. 

DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 

In the spring of the year, after the ducks have 
come from their wintering-places, there is often 
some very cold weather, and, though all but the 
running streams are frozen over, the wild fowl 
never go back again, if they can possibly avoid it. 
Their instinct is very strong against turning to 
the southward at that season of the year. At 
such times, and at any other times, when the ice 
is thick, a good blind may be built of it near the 
open water, and much sport may be had. The 
shooter must of course expect to be cold, and he 
will be very cold while waiting for ducks in hard 
weather, especially when he waits a long time in 
vam. But the coming in of the ducks in good 
nights raises the spirits, stimulates the circulation 
of the blood, and revives the warmth of the body. 
I have sometimes got so cold that I could hardly 
charge my muzzle-loading gun ; but good sport 
soon changed that. The shooting along the Illi- 

183 



184 FIELD SHOOTING. 

nois River is very good indeed, and there are more 
canvas-backs and red-heads there than there are 
about the Sangamon or in the neighborhood of 
Elkhart; but my favorite among ducks, whether 
for sport or the table, is the plump, heavy, beauti- 
ful mallard. 

As I remarked before in alluding to the color 
of the duck-shooter's clothes, ducks know a good 
deal more than some of the men who go after 
them. You may see some of the latter select 
for their shooting-place a corn-field in which the 
stalks are all broken down, and there they go 
to work and build a standing blind of the stalks. 
" In vain is the net of the fowler spread in 
sight of the bird." The ducks have probably 
flown over that field dozens of times, and notic- 
ing this blind — a thing there new and strange — 
they sheer off from it instead of flying on to 
go over it or near it, and the man inside of it 
gets no shots within killing distance. When I 
see that a man has built a blind in such a 
place, I just take advantage of his ignorance and 
folly by going and lying down some hundred 
and fifty or two hundred yards on one side of 
it. All the ducks that sheer off from it on that 
side I get a shot at. In this way I have often 



DUCES AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 185 

killed twenty or thirty, while the man in the 
blind never got a duck. Sometimes the man in 
the blind seeing this would make shots out of 
all distance, more for the purpose of scaring the 
ducks from me than with any hope of bringing 
them down himself. When that has been the 
case, I have left him to his own devices, and 
gone to another part of the field altogether. It is 
necessary to remark for the information of Eastern 
readers that the corn-fields of Illinois are commonly 
very large, and not like the small enclosures of 
the Atlantic States. The former sometimes con- 
tain as much as a thousand acres without any 
intervening fence. Production on this great scale 
tends to keep game plentiful in two or three 
ways. The farm-houses are far apart, which is 
one thing. As long as the corn-stalks are stand- 
ing green these fields afford capital cover for 
pinnated grouse and quail, as remarked hereto- 
fore. Another thing is that they afford abundance 
of food for grouse, quail, turkeys, geese, ducks, 
etc. Some parts of the summer the birds get a 
plentiful supply of insects in the corn. In the 
fall of the year and winter, and in the following 
spring, the grouse, geese, and ducks feed largely 
on the corn itself, there being always some scat- 



186 FIELD SHOOTING. 

tered about, even in the fields from which the 
ears have been hauled off. 

Duck-shooting in the corn-fields in the fall is 
fine, pleasant sport. At that season many of 
the stalks are still standing, and plenty of places 
may be found to hide. Besides, the ducks are 
not then very wild, and the majority of them 
are young birds which, not having been shot at 
a- great deal, are not as wary as the old stagers, 
who remember the shooting on their passage 
north in the spring. An excellent place at this 
time of the year is on the windward side of 
an Osage orange hedge, near where they cross 
on their way to feed. When the w T ind is blow- 
ing against them, ducks fly low. With the wind 
nearly dead ahead of them, the shooter on the 
windward side of the hedge will get plenty of 
shots at low-flying ducks as they come over, and 
need not take the trouble to lie down in the 
corn at those times. Rainy, misty, windy wea- 
ther is the best of weather for this method. On 
such days the ducks are flying low and going 
into and out of the corn-fields all day. In clear 
weather they fly higher, but still low in their 
evening flights, coming out to feed. Sometimes 
the flocks will be seen high in the air, as if 



DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 187 

setting out on a long migratory flight ; but com- 
ing over a corn-field, they will sail around, shut 
their 'wings, and come sloping to the ground. 
Ducks generally sweep round in a circle before 
settling down. A pond or little slough in a 
corn-field is a capital place to lie for ducks. 
The shooter must lie down on the bank, as in 
other places. I have killed from three to four 
dozen ducks in an evening's shooting in a corn- 
field, and that often. 

One thing I have noticed which will be of great 
importance to beginners in duck-shooting. It is that 
they always seem to be nearer than they really are 
when in flight. Allowance must be made by the 
shooter for this deceptiveness of appearance as to 
distance. When I have killed a duck, I have often 
been surprised to find how far it fell from me. 
One that seemed to be but thirty yards off would 
turn out to be forty-five. It was not the momen- 
tum of flight after being hit that could account for 
this, as such ducks had commonly stopped in their 
forward progress, and were towering up when shot 
at. Ducks also seem to be lower than they 
really are when seen in flight, and this is especi- 
ally the case in some sorts of weather. In some 
states of the atmosphere they will seem to be 



188 FIELD SHOOTING. 

much nearer than at other times when the dis- 
tance is actually the same. In nine cases out of 
ten, when a man shoots at ducks flying over him, 
they are higher in the air than he believes them 
to be. I have often seen men fire at ducks 
which "were so high and so far off that tho 
flock -would not change its direction at the re- 
port, and just kept on, seemingly looking down 
contemptuously on the foolish shooter. In the 
spring of the year and late in fall, when the 
ducks are heavily feathered, a side shot is best 
for penetration, as it may take effect under the 
wing*. When shooting from a blind, it is best to 
let the ducks pass a little before firing. When 
the shooter is lying on the ground, the turn 
made by the ducks as they tower up gives better 
chance of penetration; but the grand secret of 
penetration is a hard-hitting gun of good weight 
and calibre, and plenty of powder. 

In the prairies there are many ponds and 
sloughs, and the waters are generally well up in 
them when the prime of the time for shooting 
ducks comes in the spring and fall. At such 
places it is advisable to use decoys, and with 
these well set out a man may shoot on and off 
all clay when the ducks are flying about. Wooden 



DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 189 

decoys, painted to represent ducks, are used by 
many people, but I prefer something different, 
more natural than the joiner and painter can turn 
out. I have killed hundreds of dozens of ducks 
shooting over decoys, and the best I ever used 
were tame ducks of the color of the mallard. 
Three of these, a drake and two ducks, I used 
to fit with a piece of leather on the leg, and a 
string five or six yards long for each. I then 
staked them out in shallow water, so that they 
could not come nearer than four or five feet of 
the bank, and lay down. They were, in my 
opinion, much better than any dead decoy, whe- 
ther duck or wood. After being used as decoys 
for some time these ducks seemed to under- 
stand what was required of them, and to enter 
into the business with interest. They would swim 
about and play, and I had one pair that would 
call to the wild mallards w r hen they saw them 
going over. 

The next best thing to these tame live decoys 
for the waters of which I am writing is the 
dead mallard itself. As soon as I got a couple, 
when not employing the tame ducks, I put them 
out, and sometimes I have had as many as fif- 
teen dead ducks out as decoys together. Sue- 



190 FIELD SHOOTING. 

cess greatly depends upon the way in which they 
are- set out ; though set out in the most artful 
and natural manner, they are not as effectual as 
tame ducks of the mallard color, because these 
last swim about, and the ducks flying above see 
them in motion. I have sometimes killed as 
many as seventy or eighty ducks in a day's 
shooting with decoys of dead ducks. My method 
of setting them out was as follows : Having 
killed the duck and got him on the bank, take 
a stick, or, on the prairie where there are no 
sticks, a reed, or the stalk of a strong weed, 
which is there big and stiff. Sharpen one end to 
a point, which insert under the skin of the duck's 
breast and along up the neck, just beneath the 
skin, into the head. Do this so that the head 
holds a natural position to the body, and the 
neck is not awry. Then wade out and plant the 
other end of the stick in the mud over which 
there is a foot of water or a little more. The 
body of the duck must then rest on the water, 
as that of a live duck does, and, after having 
smoothed the feathers nicely, the shooter returns 
to his lying-down place on the bank. It is best 
to keep on setting these dead decoys until you 
have seven or eight out ; and if you largely in- 



DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 191 

crease the number, it will be simply all the bet- 
ter. I make no blind by the pond or slough, but 
lie on the grass, unless there is brush or a 
growth of willow to hide in. Neither do I ever 
wait for the ducks to settle, but shoot while they 
are still on the wing. One day at Skunk's Island, 
in the great Winnebago Swamp, I killed a hun- 
dred and thirty ducks over dead-duck decoys set 
out after the plan I have described, and in that 
clay's shooting I never hid at all. I sat on a 
muskrat-house all the time, sometimes, however, 
lying down. It made no difference whether I lay 
or sat, for the ducks were flvino; thick, and in the 
humor to " come and be killed," as the old song 
has it, which says : 

" Old Mother Bond got up in a rage, 
Her pockets full of onions, her lap full of sage ; 
And she went to the pond, did old Mother Bond, 
Crying, 'Dill, dill, dill! dill, dill, dill! 

Come and be killed ! 
The guests are all met, their bellies must be filled.' " 

On the occasion to which I have alluded I was 
out of ammunition before night. It was late in 
the fall, when large flocks fly, and two or three 
ducks may sometimes be killed by one barrel. 



102 FIELD SHOOTING. 

The j:)lace called the Inlet, at the east end of the 
swamp, some miles from Skunk's Island, is famous 
ground for ducks. The Winnebago Swamp is 
very extensive. What ii called the Outlet runs 
into Green Eiver, all along which stream there 
is very good duck-shooting. In the big pastures, 
which arc sometimes four or five miles long and 
one or two miles wide, there arc often jDonds at 
which the bullocks being fatted for market drink. 
At these ponds great shooting over decoys is often 
to be had. On Mr. Sullivant's great farm in Ford 
County there are many ponds and many extensive 
corn-fields, and 1 found last spring that the shoot- 
ing of ge'ese, ducks, and crane there was very good 
— so good that I mentally resolved to go there 
again next season. In two days' shooting, morn- 
ings and evenings, not over decoys, but as the 
wild fowl came to and went out of the corn-fields, 
I killed sixty-five mallards and pintails, mostly 
mallards, five brant geese, twenty sand-hill crane, 
and three large white crane. Yet I was told that 
the ducks and brant had mostly all gone north 
before 1 was there, and that they had been much 
more abundant than they were in the two days 
1 shot. Mr. Sullivant's foreman saw my ducks 
and cranes at the station, and made his remarks 



DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 193 

to this effect : " They said that as you were a 
pigeon-shooter, you would not be successful in the 
field. I have, however, seen no such lot as that 
at any time this season, and yet the ducks are 
now scarce to what they have been." 

This farm of Mr. Michael Sullivant's is the 
largest in Illinois, I think, and 1 am convinced 
that it is one of the best neighborhoods in the 
State for game. From what I saw, pinnated grouse 
abound, there are lots of quail, and in the mi- 
gratory seasons great flocks cf ducks, geese, brant, 
and cranes. The estate was purchased by Mr. 
Sullivant some years ago, when it was mostly un- 
broken prairie. It is eight miles square, contains 
about forty-four thousand acres, and twenty-six 
thousand acres of it have already been brought 
under cultivation. Twenty thousand acres of it 
were in corn last year, and I dare say more will 
be this year, while three thousand acres were in 
smaller grain, and three thousand in meadow-grass. 
Mr. Sullivant, the owner and farmer of this ex- 
tensive and fertile tract, was formerly the largest 
landowner in Franklin County, Ohio, and very 
likely is so still. His father was one of the first 
settlers near Columbus, the capital of Ohio: in 
fact, he lived just west of the Scioto River, op- 



194 FIELD SHOOTING. 

positc where the State House now stands, before 
there was a house in Columbus at all; and his 
younger sons, Joseph and William, still reside in 
that city. The Illinois proprietor is the eldest 
son of the old pioneer. The family is famous for 
culture, enterprise, and the uncommon personal 
beauty of its members. They are a tall, power- 
ful, handsome race ; and probably in all the vast 
regions of the "West not a tribe excels this family, 
in all its branches, in stature, symmetry, strength, 
and beauty. Upon this Illinois farm there are 
three hundred miles of Osage orange hedges, which 
are yet young. Let the sportsmen remember what 
has been said of the hedges as affording nesting- 
places for game-birds, protection against hawks, 
and facilities for shooters, and they may conceive 
what these three hundred miles of hedges will do 
when they have grown tall and thick. Now to 
come back to the ducks. 

On the large streams, such as the Mississippi 
and Illinois rivers, it is commonly necessary for 
the duck-shooter to use a boat, and it is hardly 
practicable to use any but decoys of wood, painted 
to represent the sort of ducks expected. Upon 
these rivers I have killed canvas-backs, red-heads, 
mallards, and some few black or dusky ducks. 



DUCKS AND WESTERN DUOK-SIIOOTING. 195 

I have not been out much on these large rivers, 
however, but have shot more in the corn-fields, 
on the sloughs and ponds about the prairies, in 
and about the Great Winnebago Swamp, and on 
the Sangamon and Salt Creek. Sometimes when 
a man is out after other sorts of shooting, espe- 
cially snipe, he will find that the ducks are in 
such numbers, and flying in such a way, that 
he may abandon his intended pursuit, and turn 
his attention to them. His shot will be smaller 
on such occasions than he would have* chosen 
for ducks ; but with plenty of powder to drive 
them at high velocities, he will get penetration, 
and bring the wild fowl down. Once upon Salt 
Creek, near where it fills into the Sangamon, I 
was out after snipe, and noticed that the mallards 
were flying in such a way as to afford a fine 
chance. 1 had nothing but No. 9 shot, but de- 
termined to try what could be done. This was 
in 1868. The edge of the creek was well timbered, 
and, choosing my post, I seated myself on a log 
among the trees and brush. There was a light 
snow on the bottoms some three inches deep, 
and the snipe had to get near the margins of 
the streams to feed. I could have killed a good 
bag of them, but the ducks offered a chance 



196 FIELD SHOOTING. 

much too tempting to be neglected. 1 could not 
forego the opportunity, and sitting upon that log, 
and shooting as they flew until all my ammuni- 
tion was expended, I killed and secured ninety- 
five mallards. Some few, which fell on the other 
side of the creek, I did not get. With plenty 
of cartridges and a breech-loader I believe 1 
could have killed two hundred ducks. They 
were all mallards. The date was April 7. 
Most of the mallards flew in pairs, and their 
route was towards the north. 1 have no doubt 
they were beginning their migratory flight from 
our neighborhood to the high latitudes. 

In hard, severe weather, when the wind is 
strong and keen-cutting, it is to be noted that 
ducks and other water-fowl are apt to seek the 
protection of the timber. At such times they will 
be found in creeks whose banks are well wooded, 
and about ponds hi the timber. In these places 
the shooter need not go to the trouble of build- 
ing a blind. There are in such situations so 
many old logs, stumps, etc., that if he sits down 
in clothes of the proper color, the ducks will 
not make him out in time to change the di- 
rection of their course in flight. Thus on the 
great day at Skunk's Island, in the Winnebago 



DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SIIOOTIXG. U>? 

Swamp, and on that of Salt Creek, I had no 
blind, and did not hide myself in any particular 
manner. In the first case I sat on a muskrat 
house all the time ; in the second I was seated 
on an old log while all the shooting was done. 
It is, however, necessary that the shooter should 
keep still ; for the ducks will see any movement 
a long way off, and they know that stumps of 
trees and the like do not move. In cold 
weather, when the ducks seek the timber for 
shelter, they fly very fast ; he who can kill 
three out of every four shots he makes is a 
good marksman, and will have all the duck's he 
will want to carry far on his back. 



CHAPTER XII. 

WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 

Among the wild geese to be found in the spring 
and fall in the States of the great Mississippi 
Valley, there are at least two varieties which are 
common in the same seasons on the seaboard of 
the Atlantic States. These are the Canada goose, 
the common wild goose, known almost every- 
where, and the brant goose. But besides these, 
we have in the "Western States "yjast numbers of 
small geese of other varieties, which we commonly 
call Mexican geese. As many as three of these 
differ in their plumage, and, though found in the 
same flocks apparently, are no doubt the following : 
Hutchinson's Goose, the White -Fronted Goose, and 
the Snow Goose. As mentioned above, they are 
only known by Western sportsmen as Mexican 
geese. We have, then, five or six varieties of 
wild geese in Illinois, Iowa, etc. Of these the 
Canada goose is the largest and finest, and it 
used to be much the most numerous. It is a 

198 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 190 

handsome bird, weighing when fat from ten to 
fourteen pounds. It winters in the south, and on 
its passage towards the north does not stay with 
us a great while, though a few remain all the 
summer, and I have seen the nest of this goose 
in the Winnebago Swamp. Their great breeding- 
grounds are far to the north of any of the habi- 
tations of white men, or even of Indians. They 
have been seen above the latitude of eighty north, 
and were even then flying on towards the pole. 
In those solitary regions, during the brief arctic 
summer, the several kinds of wild geese rear their 
young in vast numbers, and, when in the fall they 
set out upon their southerly migration, they fly in 
innumerable nones. They usually fly high, and, 
though their flight seems to be labored, it is very 
swift for so heavy a bird. In foggy weather their 
flight is low, and they appear to be confused, as 
if uncertain of the proper route. They intermix 
freely with tame geese, and the cross is much 
esteemed for its size and excellence on the table. 
Canada geese are rather easily domesticated, but 
even then the instinct of migration northward in 
spring is so strong that they get uneasy. Some- 
times when not pinioned they rise into the air 
and join flocks going over, and sometimes they 



200 FIELD SHOOTING. 

wander off and are shot as wild geese. A cross 
of the Canada goose no doubt improves the do- 
mestic goose in beauty and flavor, if not in size, 
and it is easy to procure it by means of wound- 
ed ganders, pinioned and turned down with the 
tame geese. 

The Canada goose is not so abundant in Illinois 
in the migratory seasons as it used to be. When 
I first settled in that State, there were vast flocks 
of these geese all over the country in the spring 
and late in the fall. In the daytime they were 
mostly in the sloughs and bottoms, and there they 
roosted at night, but they came out mornings and 
evenings to feed. They arc very fond of corn, and 
consume large quantities of it. xhe reason why 
they are now less abundant in Illinois is the thicker 
settlement of the country. The main column 
of the Canada geese now take a more westerly 
route towards the south, crossing Minnesota, Kan- 
sas, Nebraska, Iowa, and the country up the Mis- 
souri River. But there are a great many in Illi- 
nois still at the right times of the year. The 
Canada goose comes earliest of all the great 
tribes which migrate from the south in the spring, 
and, considering that most of them have to fly 
over a space covering more than fifty degrees of 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AN'li SWANS. 201 

latitude before they reach their breeding-places, 
it may be supposed they cannot stop very long 
with us in their vernal flights. As to the few 
which remain all the winter on the Sangamon 
River and in other wild places where there may 
be open water, they are too insignificant to count 
for much. The Canada geese come in their great 
flocks in February, with the first freshet or open 
weather, and remain till the middle of March, as 
a rule, while a few linger along until April comes. 
They come before any of the ducks, and they go 
on north before them. The Winnebago Swamp is 
a great resort for the wild geese. Formerly they 
used to breed there in considerable numbers, but 
of late years their nests in that quarter have been 
few. They may, however, still be found by those 
who penetrate into the marshy recess they choose 
for their breeding-places. 

When the wild geese arrive in the spring, they 
are commonly lean, but, after having fed on corn 
for a little space, they gain flesh and become in 
good order. A favorite resort of theirs in the 
spring is the great pasture-lands. Upon these 
thousands of bullocks have been fed all winter on 
corn in the car. Bullocks are wasteful feeders, and 
much corn lies shelled around. This the geese 



202 FIELD SHOOTIN0. 

pick up and fatten upon. In such places the flocks 
alight in the middle of the wide pastures, and arc 
very hard to get at. Oftentimes the first notice 
we have of the arrival of the wild geese is their 
hoarse call in the air, as they fly by night. When 
great flocks of the various kinds of wild geese are 
coming north in spring, or going south at the near 
approach of winter, they may he heard calling to 
and answering each other nearly all night long. 
The Sangamon used to he a capital place for wild 
geese, and there is still good shooting there. 

The best situation for the shooter is behind a. 
hedge or in a bunch of weeds at a fence near their 
crossing-places as they go to feed. It is best when 
they arc flying to windward. The wild geese have. 
regular crossing-places, and these may be easily 
ascertained by watching the flights of the flocks. 
The shooter must go to his station very early i:i 
the morning, before thev begin to flv. They fly 
very parly, especially if the weather is warm and 
pleasant. In cold, windy weather they arc later. 
Commonly they are on the wing about break of 
day, and I have seen them flying when it was still 
so near dark that 1 could hardly tell whether a 
flock was Canada geese, brant geese, or the so- 
called Mexican geese. When the wild geese come 



WILD REESE, CRAKES, AND SWANS. 

over their crossing-places well in the air, the 
shooter must find some means of concealment. If 
there is no hedge under which to crouch down, lie 
must lie on the dead grass or in the weeds, 
with clothes of the proper color to deceive the 
geese and elude the watchful eyes of their leaders. 
The weeds are often three feet high and thick, and 
in these cover for the shooter may be found. He 
must keep quite still until the geese, windward 
bound, are right over him. If he does not do so, 
his movement will be seen, he will hear the cry 
which gave notice to the sleeping Romans of the 
stealthy footsteps of the Gauls, and he will find, 
whether he shoots or not, that the geese have saved 
the Capital. On windy mornings wild geese fly 
very low, often not more than fifteen or twenty 
feet from the ground. In calm, clear weather they 
are much higher. Nothing can be done at the 
hedges and fences in such weather, and the shooter 
must then go to the corn-fields where they feed. 

A field in which the corn is cut up and shocked 
affords a promising chance. The shooter may build 
a little house of corn-stalks like a shock, in the 
row of shocks, and get inside of it. Some men 
get behind a corn-shock, but the plan is not a 
good one. In circling round the field one of the 



'i'.'l FIELD SHOOTING-. 

geeso sees him, and iho other3 keep away, sheer 
off wide. The little blind made like a shock of 
corn is best, but it must be made ready in the 
daytime, or in the night season before the geese 
have begun to fly. In wet, misty weather the 
wild geese remain about the corn-fields all day, 
and then from a blind properly made the very 
best shooting may be had. I have killed eleven 
Canada geese before breakfast in one of Mr. 
Gillott's corn-fields, not more than a mile and a 
half from Elkhart. 1 went out to the field on 
horseback, and tethered my horse to a fence. 

In windy weather the best shooting is at the 
crossing-places, and the shooter must choose his 
place and method according to the weather. On 
the large pastures the best plan is to use a horse 
and buggy. The wild geese may be seen sitting 
in the pastures and in the prairie when they are 
a long way off. The shooter must drive briskly 
on, as if he was going past them, on the wind- 
ward side, gradually drawing nearer, but never 
heading directly towards them. If he does the 
latter, the flock will fly, although he may be as 
much as two hundred yards from them. When 
the shooter is opposite the geese, he pulls up the 
horse with one hand, drops the reins, and raises 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 20S 

his gun. Tho geese start to fly, but they cannot 
rise down-wind, and, getting up against it, as they 
must do, they come towards the gun. Then is 
the time to fire ; but beware of 'miscalculating the 
distance. Geese look very large on the prairie. \ 
have seen men shoot at geese, believing them to 
be within killing distance, when they were certainly 
not less than two hundred yards away. I have 
also seen them fired at in flight when they were 
so high in the air that they passed without no- 
ticing the shot. Yet a goose may be killed at 
a great distance with large shot if it happens to 
be hit in a vital part. 

I once killed one at a hundred and nineteen yards 
with a BB cartridge. The ground was measured, 
as I knew it was a very long shot. It was a chance 
shot. I had driven on the flock two or three times, 
and had been unable to get within distance. I drove 
for them again, and, seeing that they were just 
going to fly, I pulled up and let go one barrel 
just as they rose. Of late years I have killed as 
many by driving for them with a smart horse as in 
any other way. When shooting in this method, 
I once killed five geese with the two barrels, and 
have often killed from ten to fifteen a day from the 
buggy. The greatest number T ever killed in a day 



206 FIELD SHOOTING. 

was twenty-three. That was in a corn-field where the 
corn was in shock, and I shot from such a blind as 
I have described above. It was near Elkhart, and 
on one of those wet, misty days in the spring on 
which the Canada geese are flying about and feed- 
ing all day. I generally use No. 1 shot for geese. 
It is quite large enough with plenty of powder to 
drive it home. In shooting geese from a blind 
the shooter must keep quite still until they are 
near enough. When he has killed, he must pick 
up the goose and return to his blind. 

When young wheat is among the corn-shocks, 
the small grain having been sown the previous fall, 
it is a favorite resort for wild geese. A live de- 
coy — a wild goose that was winged, and which has 
been saved for the purpose — may be staked out in 
the field, and the geese will come down to it. In 
the fields of early spring wheat, where there arc no 
corn-shocks, there are sometimes many geese. They 
eat off the green plants, and the farmers, thinking 
them an intolerable nuisance, used to put up scare- 
crows, as people do in some parts to keep away 
swamp blackbirds and crows from young springing 
corn. In such a wheat-field the shooter may dig 
a hole, and, smoothing over the ground, get into 
it and wait for the geese. If it is too wet for thai. 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 207 

he may sink a largo barrel or small hogshead, and 
from that get very nice shooting. From a barrel 
placed in a marsh known to be a good resort for 
geese, much shooting may be had all the spring 
season, but it must be planted there before the 
wild geese have come from the south. It is better 
than boat-shooting, and perhaps better than any 
other plan, taking the spring season all through. 
When a hole is dug in a wheat-field to which the 
wild geese have taken, it should be made soon 
after their arrival ; and when they get used to it, 
much nice shooting may be had there. 

But the best shooting at Canada geese, and the 
best geese for the table, are in the fall of the ' year, 
when the young geese come on from the far 
northern regions in which they have been bred. 
Their arrival is not looked for until we have had 
some stiff frost, and that is usually about the first 
of November. The corn is then just being cut 
up, and the fall wheat is well out of the ground. 
At first the wild geese go upon the young wheat, 
and they eat it off close sometimes. When the 
corn has been shocked and left on the fields, they 
go into that. The various kinds of wild geese, 
ducks, and cranes consume a great deal of corn. 
In some wet places I have known them to eat a 



208 FIELD STIOOTIXG. 

third of the crop. Later on in the winter the 
wild geese do not go into the standing corn, as 
wild, ducks do. The former are equally wary and 
more shy, and they will not go into places where 
there seems to be afforded a chance to crawl on 



them. In regard to their roosting-places wild 
geese are cunning and secretive. They mostly 
choose for their sleeping-places large, wet marshes 
and the margins of ponds in big bottoms, where 
there is open water. AY hen there is ice in the 
marshes and on the ponds, they roost on that. 
These roosting-places are generally far aw r ay from 
the settlements, and in places that are almost in- 
accessible. A few flocks still roost near the ponds 
in the Salt Creek and Sangamon bottoms. These 
bottoms are more than a mile wide in some places, 
and the bottoms of the Illinois and Mississippi 
Rivers arc wider still. Crane Lake in Mason 
County, a wild, marshy place, is a favorite roost - 
ing-placc for wild geese. 

When a roosting-placc has been found, capital 
success may be looked for. It can seldom bo 
found except by watching the flights of wild geese 
nights and mornings, having a good knowledge 
of the country, and using proper judgment. The 
shooter goes to it at sundown, and, lying down in 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 209 

the grass with clothes of the proper hue, waits for 
geese. They come in late in the evening, and 
keep coming, flock after flock, until nine or ten at 
night, and sometimes until eleven. On Mr. Sulli- 
v ant's tract, in Ford County, before they are 
much shot at, the wild geese roost about the 
ponds in the prairie ; but when they have been 
disturbed there a few times, they go further off 
to wild places in the extensive swamps. Wild 
geese do not frequent timber-land, except when 
the weather is very cold and blustering, or 
when there is a fall of snow. At those times 
they go into the timber along creeks and rivers, 
and may be found there. 

Some years ago I and three others found out 
that there was a small roosting-place on the 
Sangamon River just below the mouth of Salt 
Creek. There came a sudden, frost and intense 
cold weather, with some snow. We knew that at 
such a time the river would bo frozen over near 
the place the geese frequented, and that they 
would roost on the ice. At break of day we got 
up, and drove in a sleigh three miles to where 
we knew the wild ■ geese would be found. In 
such weather they do not fly before nine or ten 
o'< Lock in the morning. The river was low, and 



210' FIELD SHOOTING. 

before we got to the bank we could hear the 
flock of geese, on the ice below, chattering in the 
cold. There was heavy timber on both banks, 
and we crept up in it on our side until we 
were within about forty yards of the pack of geese 
on the ice below. As we raised ourselves up, the 
wild fowl started to fly, and we put in the dis- 
charge from our eight barrels as they were 
rising, and killed ten. Our guns were muzzle- 
loaders. If they had been breech-loaders, we 
could have charged and shot again, as the geese 
seemed bewildered for a little while, and did not 
fly straight away. Now began my bad luck. 

The wild geese, as a matter of course, fell 
on the ice. It was what is called slush 
ice, which is none of the strongest, but weak 
and treacherous even when thick. Mj companions 
were afraid to go. out for the dead geese, and I 
had to go, though the heaviest man of the party. 
It is my habit, when out shooting, hardly ever 
to let my gun be out of my hands, and it was 
now lucky that in going on the ice for these 
geese 1 carried it with me. I had brought some 
of the geese to the bank, and gene out for the 
balance. The furthest two I got, raid was just 
stooping to pick up the last when in I wont. 



"WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 211 

I had gone in a sort of air-hole, which, being 
covered with broken ice and snow, I had not 
perceived. The river was twenty feet deep, and I 
came near being drowned. However, by means 
of the gun in one hand and the three geese in 
the other, I got such a spread on the ice that 
I did not go clean under. Two of my com- 
panions were so scared by the suddenness of the 
occurrence and the danger of the situation that 
they could do nothing. The other got an old 
ten-foot rail, and, shoving it to me, enabled me 
to struggle to the bank, gun, geese, and all. The 
cold was so intense that my clothes were all frozen 
stiff the minute after I was out of the water. It 
was three miles to a house and a stove, and 
before we got there I was like a solid six-foot 
chunk of ice. I then got on dry clothes, wrap- 
ped myself in a blanket, took a seat by the fire, 
and drank half a pint of strong whiskey, neat. 
I was soon all right again; but when the blood 
began to circulate in the numbed parts, the pain 
was intense for the time. I did not even take cold 
from that ducking. 

Being much in the water, however, in the West- 
ern country, entails something Avorsc than a cold, 
if not worse than rheumatism. I mean the ague. 



212 FIELD SHOOTING. 

When I first went to Illinois, I shot many geese; 
and if one fell in a pond or slough, I waded in 
waist-deep to bring it out. The old settlers 
used to tell me that it was a had practice; hut 
I had never been sick in my life to any degree 
of importance, and had no fears. But after being 
there a year, out in all sorts of weather, and 
often in and out of the water two or three times 
a day, I caught the ague, and had it eleven 
months. It was not the mild ague, such as pre- 
vails to some extent on the Atlantic coast of 
the Northern States, but the powerful Western 
ague, which shakes a man so that his bones al- 
most rattle as well as his teeth. In the course 
of the eleven months it was broken up several 
times, but always came back again. Now, there 
are a great many infallible remedies for the ague. 
I took about a score of them, but didn't get well. 
At last, however, I got hold of the real thing. It 
cured me, and much experience of it since fbt 
sixteen years has convinced me that it is the 
best thing in the world to cure the complaint. 
It is not a patent medicine. The editor of this 
book, to whom I am relating my experience, and 
who had experience of the shakes himself in 
Michigan from July to Christmas, says he wishes 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 2J3 

it was, as we could get five hundred dollars, in 
that case, for this notice of it. It is simply 
lemon-juice and Holland gin. Squeeze the juice 
of five or six lemons into a quart of gin, and 
take a good dram of it three times a day. It is 
not only pleasant, but effectual, and it will cure 
as well as prevent the ague. At the same time 
avoid getting wet as much as possible, especially 
in the ponds and sloughs. 

Shooting brant geese is " much the same in 
method as shooting Canada geese. They are 
about half the size of the latter, and very good eat- 
ing. There is this difference in their habits : the 
brant do not go so much into fields where the 
corn is shocked, but use more where it is not 
cut up, but the stalks are much broken down. 
In the early spring a man may see acres of such 
corn-fields covered with brant. To shoot them 
there he must lie down as I have directed for duck- 
shooting in the like places. "With the brant, at 
least in close proximity, will be found what we 
call Mexican geese. They are about the same 
size as the brant, and though there are at least 
four kinds, to judge by the plumage and mark- 
ings, they are in flocks all mixed up together. 
Sometimes there will be half a dozen brant in a 



2i4 FIELD SHOOTING. 

flock of these mixed Mexicans. The latter are 
more numerous now than either Canada geese or 
brant. They have increased in number of late 
years, not only relatively, but absolutely. Just 
before they go off northwards in the spring the 
mixed flocks of these geese pack together on the 
prairies and on rather elevated spots until there 
are three or four thousand in a body. They leave 
in these great packs. "When they have gathered, 
and are preparing to' ret out on their long flight 
they may be seen to rise and circle round so as 
to cast a shadow on the ground like a cloud. 
These geese fly by night. They always seem to 
arrive in the night, and they leave by night. 
They utter a different cry from Canada geese and 
from brant, and are much more noisy than either. 
AY hen, in their flight through the air, they go over, 
or nearly over, the lights of a town or village, 
they make a great row. On the table they are 
plump and nice, as good as brant, but to my 
thinking not as good as the Canada goose. That 
i ! the king of the wild geese ; more juicy than 
any other, as well as twice the size. The great 
mixed flocks of Mexican geese present a mottled 
appearance when clearly seen. Some are pale 
blue in color, some grizzly gray, some have white 



WILD GEESE, CRAKES, AND SWANS, 215 

hcach and necks, some arc all white except the 
ends of the wings, which in them are black. 
If any naturalist of New York, Boston, or Phila- 
delphia would like to have a specimen of each of 
these geese, 1 can send them. 

There arc two kinds of cranes plentiful in Illi- 
nois in the spring and fall of the year. The most 
abundant is the sand-hill crane, a well-known 
bird. "With a body as large as that of a goose, 
he stands upon long legs, so that he is four, and 
a half or five feet high. They winter in the south, 
and go to high northern latitudes to breed. A 
few nests are made in the Winnebago Swamp, but 
only a few. They do not resort about water much, 
although they choose their roosting-place near it. 
In the spring they are first seen very high in the 
air, circling round and uttering loud cries, so high up 
as hardly to be perceived. In my opinion, they 
fly higher than any other bird, not even excepting 
eagles and vultures. When the cry of the crane 
is heard coming out of the sky, as it were, people 
know that winter is quite over, and that warm 
weather is going to come in shortly. When seen 
sitting on the prairie in flocks, they look like 
sheep at a distance. 

They arrive with us according to the season, 



2 1 6 Fl ELD SHOOT125 G . 

usually about the tenth of March, and stay a month. 
Like the wild geese and ducks, cranes frequent the 
corn-fields for the purpose of feeding. The few 
nests made in Illinois contain but two eggs, and 

Do " 

one of the old birds is always on the watch near 
them. They return in the fall about the same time 
as the wild geese, but do not then fly so high as 
in the spring; perhaps it is because many of them 
are young birds. In the fall they are first seen 
out on the prairie, and a very unwelcome sight it 
is to the farmer; for they are very hard on his crop 
of corn, much of which is then cut up and shocked 
in the fields. Boys are employed to keep them 
away. I have often seen large pieces of corn-land 
in shock when all the cars on the outside had been 
shelled and eaten, not a kernel left.' They stay 
as long as the wild geese, which is until real hard 
weather sets in. Cranes are easy birds to shoot 
when you can get a fair shot at them, but they are 
wary and shy, keeping a good lookout all the 
time. It is of no use to lie down in corn for them. 
They can see further and better than any other 
bird I know. The immense height at which they 
fly in the spring has convinced me of this. To 
shoot them, when they have been shot at and made 
shy and wary, one of two methods must be fol- 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 217 

lowed. By watching their flights to and from 
corn-fields their crossing-places may he found. 
At one of these the shooter must post himself 
under an Osage orange hedge on the windward 
side. Then he must wait for a lot to come over. 
In windy weather and going to windward they 
fly low and slow, and are very easily hit. But 
it takes hard hitting to kill them, as they are 
thickly feathered. When going for cranes, I use 
No. 1 or No. 2 shot in my cartridges with strong 
charge of powder. Some think heavier shot neces- 
sary, but I know they are not. At Mr. Sullivant's 
farm in Ford County, last spring, I shot twenty 
sand-hill cranes and three of the large • white 
variety. I had no larger shot than No. G, having 
gone without expectation of getting any shooting 
except at ducks, mallards, and pintails. 

There were, however, large numbers of cranes, 
and I -found out that they roosted near ponds in 
the neighboring prairie. I knew then that I could 
get close shots when they came at dusk. Loading 
my cartridges for that shooting with six drama 
of powder and an ounce of shot, and taking post 
near the edge of the pond, which was from one 
to two acres in extent, I waited for their coming. 
The first evening I killed seven sand-hill cranes 



218 FIELD SHOOTING. 

and tlio three large white ones, and the next night 
thirteen of the sand-hills. The large white crane 
is bigger than the sand-hill, and sometimes attains 
the enormous weight of thirty pounds ; that is, 
ho weighs as much as two good turkeys. It is 
pure white, except the ends of the wings, which 
arc black. The largest of the three I killed was a 
magnificent specimen. He measured seven feet eight 
inches across the wings, stood five feet ten inches 
high, and weighed thirty pounds. I gave it to 
Mr. Gillott, of the great farm near Elkhart, and he 
had a description of it published in the Lincoln, 
Logan County, paper, headed, " Captain Bogardus's 
Mammoth Crane." 

It is hard to get within shot of the white crane. 
They are seldom killed, except near the ponds, 
when they come to roost at night. It has a very 
keen as well as far sight, and nothing but the fact 
that it is almost dark when they come * to the 
roosting-place enables the shooter to get a chance 
at them. A crane of either kind winged will 
make a desperate fight, and is a dangerous custo- 
mer for the unwary to deal with. If man or dog 
comes within striking distance, the crane aims at 
the eye with his sharp-pointed bill, some six inches 
long. The bird will drive his bill into a dog as 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. *219 

if it were a dagger. I have had a dog that had 
never seen crane before go in to catch one that 
was winged, but he came out again after getting 
one stroke. The white crane is not nearly as 
numerous as the sand-hill. Its habits are the 
same, but there are only from eight to twelve 
in a flock. I never saw a nest of this crane, 
and believe it never builds in Illinois. 

Both the cranes are fine eating. The meat is 
dark, and the breast, when well hung and properly 
cooked, is as fine as the best venison. At one 
time 1 thought they were good for nothing, but 
a circumstance happened which changed my opinion 
altogether. I was out shooting pinnated grouse 
late in the fall with a companion, and we camped, 
or rather took shelter, slept, and cooked in a herds- 
man's hut which had been deserted. The cattle 
had been driven away, and the hut was tenant- 
less. It was on the Delavan prairie. I killed a 
sand-hill crane, and hung it on the fence by the 
hut. It remained there eight or nine days and 
as many frosty nights. We had good sport, 
plenty to eat, and forgot all about the crane. 
But on the evening of one day, on which we had 
sent all our game away in the afternoon, it was 
found that by an oversight we had reserved none 



220 FIELD SHOOTING. 

for our suppers and breakfasts. I then remembered 
the crane, and going to the fence I picked the 
breast, and cut it off in slices or steaks. These 
we fried in butter. There was a prairie road or 
track running by the hut. It was commonly but 
little used, but on this occasion, while the steaks 
were being cooked, a man and a woman came by 
in a buggy. As she caught the rich flavor from 
the hot pan, the woman said, "Those men must 
have something very good to eat." She was right. 
When we came to our crane-steaks, we both 
thought we had never eaten anything so good in 
our lives. It is true that the frosty air of the 
prairie late in the fall sharpens the appetite, and 
true that we were hungry, and hunters at that; 
but it is also true that the steaks were delicious 
eating. The meat was rich and juicy, and it had 
been frozen and thawed a sufficient number of 
times to make it very tender. Since then, if a 
crane was within shot, I have never let him get 
away, if I could help it. The flesh of the white 
crane is quite as good as that of the sand-hill 
kind. 

Cranes need to be hun^ for a lonsj time be- 
fore being cooked, and almost all game is the 
better for being hung, if the weather is cool or 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, A.ND 8WA1 "J-M 

cold. Perhaps snipe and woodcock may he excep- 
tions. You can hardly hang pinnated grouse too long 
when they keep sweet. I have eaten them a month 
after they were killed in the winter, and none 
could be finer. Quail are all the better for 
being hung. So are Canada geese and other wild 
geese, together with mallard ducks and wild tur- 
keys. Of course young grouse shot in August 
or the warm days of September cannot be hung, 
and they are very good eating when cooked fresh, 
but not better than winter grouse hung; a long 
time, stuffed, roasted, and eaten with bread-sauce, 
made gravy, and hot, mealy potatoes. 

A few pelicans are shot along the upper part 
of the Mississippi River* Occasionally a small 
flight of swans come over Central Illinois, and 
sometimes they alight in the Winnebago Swamp 
or the Sangamon bottoms ; but these occurrences 
are rare. My brother once killed three late in 
the fall on the Sangamon bottom. They were 
going south, and alighted at a pond where he 
was lying for geese at roosting-time. At a place 
in the Winnebago Swamp called Swan Lake they 
sometimes alight on their passage. I have never 
killed one. Going down the Mississippi hist win- 
ter, I saw, from the steamboat, many swans in 



222 FIELD SHOOTING. 

the bayous and on the sand-islands. At New 
Orleans I was told by Mr. Charleville, the gun- 
smith, that there was a fine place for shooting all 
sorts of wild fowl below the city, called The 
Dump. I saw plenty of mallards, there called 
French ducks, in the market. 



CHAPTER X11I. 

WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 

Of all the feathered game that runs and flies, 
the wild turkey of America is the noblest and 
most beautiful of which I ever heard. In one 
sense the ostrich of the Arabian desert or the 
emu of the Australian plains might be deemed 
an exception. They, however, do not fly; and 
though their size, plumage, and fleetness invest 
them with a sort of grandeur, and their feathers 
are valuable as ornaments for the head-dresses of 
ladies, they are neither so beautiful nor so useful 
and excellent as food as the wild turkey. In- 
deed, the flesh of the latter is hardly surpassed by 
anything in succulence, richness of flavor, and nutri- 
ment, and it is vastly superior to that of any tame 
turkey that ever was fed and roasted or boiled. 
It is well known that the tame turkey is de- 
scended from the wild turkey of America. Before 
the discovery of this continent the bird was un- 
known in Europe, and had never been seen in 
Turkey in Asia. It may be easily domesticated. 

223 



224 FIELD SHOOTING. 

and a cross of the wild gobbler with tame hen- 
turkeys always improves the flock in size and 
excellence. 

At one time the wild turkey was plentiful all 
over this country, from Texas to Canada, and 
from the eastern seaboard to the peaks of the 
Eocky Mountains, in such localities as furnished 
it with its favorite sorts of food and afforded 
the cover in which it delights. Now, however, it 
is hardly to be met with to the eastward of West 
Virginia, and it cannot be said to be still abun- 
dant in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, 
etc. In those States wild turkeys were once very 
plentiful, and a considerable number are still to be 
found in a few localities in each. In Iowa, Mis- 
souri, etc., there are more wild turkeys now than 
in the States first mentioned. One would suppose 
there must still be a few in the western parts of 
New York and Pennsylvania, but I am not certain 
that there are. 

TI13 wild turkey is a bird of the forest rather 
than of the prairies or the plains. It makes its 
haunts in timber-land, large pieces of woods, and 
groves, and betakes itself to thick brush and the 
neighborhood of impassable swamps to breed. It 
comes out, however, at night or at earliest dawn, 



WILD TURKEY A.ND DEER SHOOTING. ^i^ 

and feeds in the corn and wheat fields in the fall, 
and many broods are sometimes seen together in a 
pack a hundred strong, led by old gobblers. In 
the beech and maple woods it feeds upon beech- 
nuts with great relish, and, indeed, its principal 
food in winter is the berries of the bushes and 
the "mast" of various trees. The wild turkey, 
though so gregarious, is shy and a wary, fast- 
running bird, hardly ever taking to the wing if 
it can avoid doing so. When closely pursued by 
a dog or impeded by deep snow, it is com- 
pelled to flight. 

It is found in Illinois in the timber and thick 
brush to be met with on the banks of rivers and 
creeks. The wild turkeys used to be very numer- 
ous in and about the bottoms of the Sangamon 
River. I have killed a great many there myself, 
one of which was a famous gobbler of twenty- 
seven pounds weight and magnificent plumage. 
They are now scarce, difficult to find, and hard to 
kill. Following turkevs on their tracks in snow, 
which has been my usual method of hunting them, 
is hard work. In the great woods of the forest 
countries the favorite method is to find the flock, 
scatter it all around by means of a dog, and 
then in ambush imitate the call of the turkevs 



220 FIELD SHOOTING. 

until they come near enough to be shot with a 
rifle. 

There used to be many turkeys in the tim- 
ber at Lake Yort, some seven or eight miles 
from Elkhart, and a few may be found there yet. 
In the woodlands of North Missouri the wild 
turkey is still rather abundant, and it will be 
found wherever there is timber and brush all 
through Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, the Indian 
Territory, and down through Texas. Wild turkeys 
are also found in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, 
and Florida. They do best in warm weather, 
though they arc furnished with a full coat of 
feathers, and can stand the cold of our northwest- 
ern States and Canada. 

I have often found the wild turkey's nest. It 
is made in the timber, among thick brush, and 
very often by the side of an old log. When 
the hen wild turkey leaves her nest, she covers 
it up with leaves, just as the tame hen-turkey 
will do when she has made a nest under a 
hedge or in the brambles near a fence. Some 
years ago, when wild turkeys abounded more 
than they do now, great numbers of their eggs 
were taken from their nests and hatched under 
hens. The young ones thus obtained were very 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. '2'1 1 

much like young tame turkeys in their habits 
until late in the fall. Then, from roosting in 
trees and rambling about, they often left the tame 
turkeys, and went off with the wild ones. In 
secluded places the wild turkeys often mingle 
with tame flocks. The gobblers are not pugna- 
cious with each other, though they will fight with 
game-cocks, and sometimes, by superior weight 
and strength, worry out and kill the best. 

Formerly I used to shoot turkeys in the old 
method of calling them up, after having scat- 
tered them, to an ambush, and using a small- 
bore rifle or a shot-gun loaded with buckshot 
or with BB cartridge. That plan answers best 
when the turkeys are young. Latterly I have 
waited for turkey-shooting until the winter weather 
had well set in, and gone only when there was 
snow on the ground. The method is to find the 
tracks of a flock in the snow, and follow them 
up. Turkeys in snow, with a man following in 
their track, soon begin to tire a little, if the 
snow is damp and no crust on the top of it. 
After some time the hunter, who must be a good 
walker and capable of standing much fatigue, 
will see where one of the turkeys has diverged 
from the route of the flock. Following the track 



238 FIELD CIIO . ! 

of the single turkey, it will be found that after 
having gone a little way, commonly not more 
than two hundred yards, and often less, it has 
squatted under thick brush or in the top of a 
fallen tree. As he draws near, it will start to run 
or to fly, and it must then be shot. In this sport 
I use No.'l shot, which is quite big enough. A 
turkey going to fly is compelled to run eight 
or ten feet in order to get headway before 
rising from the ground, and 1 have often shot 
them in the head before they could take wing. 
After having killed his turkey, the hunter must 
take up the track of the flock again, and go on 
after it until he sees that another has diverged. 
As I remarked before, it is much the best to 
follow this sport when the snow is damp, for 
the turkeys then tire the sooner, and are more 
inclined to hide and squat. No dog is to be 
used. He would be worse than useless. 

Another good time for turkey- shooting is when 
it is snowing hard. That, of course, is no good 
time for tracking; but while the snow is falling 
fast, the wild turkeys sit around in thick brush 
or in the thick top of a fallen tree. They are 
then easily approached ; but the hunter must 
know the country well, and be familiar with 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 229 

the places where the flocks habitually resort. If 
the hunter does not know the country well, and 
is after turkeys in a thick snow-storm, instead 
of finding them, he will be likely enough to get 
lost himself. 

When a flock of wild turkeys is being followed 
by tracking, they often take wing ; and there,' of 
course, their tracks end. But they generally fly 
straight ahead, and the hunter may usually hit 
their new tracks after they have alighted and 
gone on again on foot. Although they fly straight, 
they do not travel straight when on foot, but 
sometimes wind in and out very much. Com- 
monly their tracks will be found again within 
three or four hundred yards of where they took 
wing. The hunter will see where they made the 
quick run before rising. By that he may judge 
very nearly the direction of their flight, and fol- 
low it. 

When there are creeks and ravines which tur- 
keys must cross on the wing, they almost always 
go over at the same places. In such a case as a 
creek running across a narrow belt of timber, or 
a ravine intersecting it, advantage may be taken 
of this habit of the turkeys. There must be two 
hunters. One must post himself at the crossing 



280 FIELD SHOOTING. 

under cover, and the other go three or four miles 
up, and drive the wood down to it. If there are 
any turkeys in the upper part of the timber, the 
man at the crossing will be certain to have a 
good shot or two. 

When I first lived in Illinois, I used to hunt 
turkevs a good deal on the Sangamon, in the 
right kind of weather, generally preferring soft 
snow or a fast-falling snow-storm. I generally 
killed some turkeys — some days only two, on 
others three, four, five, and six, and a few times 
as many as seven. One day I was tracking 
turkeys in only about three inches of snow. 
They did not tire, but travelled fast, and some- 
times took flight, so that following them was a 
weary business. I had been after them nearly 
all day, and was nearly " tuckered out." I had 
often been in sight of them, but never near 
enough for a shot. But as evening drew on 
apace, and roosting-time approached, the turkeys 
began to call. They had travelled all day, and 
were glad to halt where they were. By wait- 
ing and stalking between calls I shot four. 
They weighed from twelve to eighteen pounds 
each, and I had to carry them and my gun 
three miles to get to a house. It was a very 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 231 

hard day's work, and nothing but downright 
perseverance enabled me to get any turkeys at 
all on that occasion. When the going is good, 
a flock of turkeys will beat a man by endurance. 
They are great ramblers in the daytime, but 
nearly always come back to the same roosting- 
place at night. 

On another occasion I was out after turkeys 
on the Sangamon on a thick, snowy day — just 
the sort of day for a man to get lost in tim- 
ber and a wild, broken country. I then lived 
seven miles from Petersburg, and in following 
the turkeys round bluffs and across barrens on 
the edge of the timber I was several times in 
sight of that place. Still the tracks went on 
winding about until they led to a place where 
there seemed to be some every way. There 
were others besides myself hunting turkeys in 
that timber, and we sometimes took the tracks 
ahead of each other. It was then snowing 
rather fast, and of course the tracks were all 
fresh. The flock I was on tired in the after- 
noon, and I killed two about four o'clock. I 
then found I was lost. It was still snowing, 
and night was coming on. The first thing to 
be done was to keep on as fast as I could in 



232 FIELD 3H00TINO. 

one direction, so as to get out of the timber. 
The turkeys I had killed were very large ones 
— twenty pounds each. However, I trudged along 
through the snow, and at last got clear of the 
woods, and found out where I was. It was not, 
however, as I had expected, between Petersburg 
and where I lived, but at Indian Point, from 
which I had a walk of thirteen miles home. I 
do not think I ever was more tired than I was 
that night when I reached home. Travelling in 
snow is not easy walking, and tracking turkeys 
in it is emphatically hard work. 

I went out one day to hunt wild turkeys near 
the mouth of Salt Creek in seven or eight inches 
of wet snow, the weather being mild and the frost 
giving, so that the snow packed. I came upon 
the tracks of a flock of turkeys, and, after fol- 
lowing them for some time, I killed two. Tak- 
ing up the main trail again, I noticed the track 
of one very large turkey, a real great gobbler. 1 
had heard other men speak of having been on the 
track of a very large turkey about there, but none 
of them had ever been able to come up with 
him, though they had killed others out of the 
Sock he led. I now determined to do my best to 
get him, and resolved not to go off after stragglers, 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 233 

unless he left the route of the flock himself. 1 
followed the track, winding through brush, and 
sometimes went across very rough ground — over 
which the turkeys flew — for as much as ten miles ; 
but in the timber of the bottom I was unable 
to come up to the gobbler. The other turkeys 
in the flock appeared to have straggled off, and 
the old, wily gobbler, often hunted and very fast, 
and strong as well as large, was alone. At last 
he left the bottoms, and the trail led up into 
bluffs and ravines where the brush was very 
thick and the snow in places quite deep. I think 
many men would have given it up then, for the 
ground was extremely difficult to enter into after 
the ten-mile tramp from where I had struck the 
trail first, but I determined to persevere. In fact, 
I had now strong hopes of getting the turkey, 
being convinced that he would not have entered 
this ground if he had not been, tired. After go- 
ing some distance among the bluffs and thickets 
of the ravines, the gobbler squatted under an old 
tree-top. He would be dead beat and want rest 
sorely before he would do that, I knew ; still, I 
looked for him to appear at any moment from 
some such place, and kept my gun ready, both 
locks cocked. He would get wind again while I 



234 FIELD SHOOTING. 

was coming up on his track, and be ready for a 
quick bolt. As 1 advanced on the trail, I heaid 
a movement among the top brush of a fallen 
tree, and out went the turkey. lie was probably 
sixty yards away from me when I saw him so 
as to shoot, but I took a long shot, and hit him 
hard with the right barrel, following it with the 
left instanter to make sure work. I think the 
first barrel would have been enough, but I was 
very anxious to get him ; and as I knew that if 
he was only winged he would run until he 
dropped dead, I gave him the second barrel. He 
was the most splendid specimen of the wild tur- 
key I ever saw, and I have seen a great many, 
lie weighed twenty-seven pounds, was quite fat, 
and the beard — the tuft of hair which hangs from 
the breast — was eight inches long. The beauty 
of his plumage on the neck, wings, and breast 
is indescribable. It glittered with a score of hues 
of metallic lustre — gold, green, purple, brown, etc. — 
and these tints cast rays like those which flash 
from the feathers of the humming-bird. 

It was in the belt of timber in which this 
gobbler was found that I then lived. On two 
occasions there I shot at a turkey on the wing 
with a rifle, when out after deer, and killed. 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 235 

When turkeys are too wild to bo shot with 
a shot-gun, it is of little use to track them at 
all. Resort must then he had to the method of 
calling them up, and here the rifle may bo used. 
Except for very long shots, however, the shot- 
gun is as good as the rifle, even when the tur- 
keys are called up within distance of the shooter, 
and in one important matter better — there are 
two barrels to one, and a miss may be mended 
with the second. 

The best day of turkey-shooting I ever had was in 
Missouri, on Shoal Creek, not a great distance from 
the town of St. Jo, on the Missouri River. I went 
to that quarter on a regular shooting expedition, 
prepared to stay some time. John D. Lindsay, 
an old hunter, went first in order to look about 
the neighborhood around St. Jo, and ascertain 
what the prospects were. He wrote to me that 
there were plenty of wild turkeys, deer, and other 
game in the region round about Cameron, Lynn 
County, and desired me to join him. I lost no 
time in doing so, and was accompanied by Colonel 
Roberts, w r ho wanted to camp out. "We took- my 
tent. Arriving at Cameron in the morning, I hired 
a team. We took the tent and other things out 
to a suitable spot about three or four miles from 



236 FIELD SHOOTING* 

the town, and there prepared to camp. We pitch- 
ed our tent on a creek bottom, near enough to 
the bank to make it handy to get water, and at 
the foot of a hill covered with scrub-oak. In 
selecting a place for a camp in cold weather 
the main things to look after are shelter 
from the northwest winds and close prox- 
imity to wood and water. I had no camp-stove 
then, and it was necessary to keep up a big. 
fire near the mouth of the tent all night, so that 
plenty of wood was required. The country for 
miles around was successive hills and hollows, 
with scrub-timber in places and much brush, 
called barrens. Having pitched the tent and 
plied our axes for wood, Lindsay and 1 left 
Colonel* Roberts to put things to rights, took our 
guns, and went to look about a little. In less than 
half an hour 1 killed two turkeys. This was a good 
beginning. 

We returned to the tent, where Colonel Roberts 
speedily distinguished himself as a capital cook. 
Having picked and cleaned a turkey, he desired 
me to put up two short stakes with forks at the 
upper ends pretty close to the fire, while Lind- 
say was required to furnish a thin, straight stick. 
With this last the colonel spitted the turkey, and 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 237 

the ends of the spit being laid in the crutches of 
the uprights, the bird could, be turned slowly 
before the fire with little trouble. A pan placed 
beneath caught the gravy and dripping, and with 
this the turkey was basted from time to time. 
It was a most excellent roast, and a wild turkey 
cooked in this way before a big, quick fire 
beats one that is baked in an oven all hollow. 
We feasted well that evening, but in the night 
we rather suffered, as I shall relate. 

We had to rely on a large fire in front of 
the tent for warmth, as I had then no tent-stove. 
Of late years I have always been provided with a 
small, cheap stove and pipe, which could be put 
up inside. The tent being then closed all round, 
and a small fire kept up in the stove with hard 
wood, it is as warm inside as in a house. Such 
a plan is much better for convenience and com- 
fort than my old system. The fire in front of 
the tent has to be eight or ten feet off, for fear 
that the canvas may take fire if it is nearer, 
and on a cold night it does not do much good. 
In Missouri at that time the nights were very 
cold. We had to lie with our heads under the 
blankets to keep our ears from being frozen. In 
the morning our boots were as stiff as if they had 



233 FIELD SHOOTING. 

been made of iron instead of leather. We hunted 
every day with more or less success. 

In a few days there came a fresh fall of snow, 
some seven or eight inches, and Lindsay and I 
went out prepared to take advantage of it. We 
breakfasted at break of day, and set out for Shoal 
Creek, which was three miles distant. It quit 
snowing as soon as it got to be daylight, so that 
when Ave reached the banks of the creek the 
tracks, if any were found, would be fresh. About 
eight o'clock in the morning we came upon the 
trail of a large flock of turkeys. They had begun 
to move about as soon as it left off snowing, and 
there must have been from thirty-five to forty, 
perhaps more than forty, in the flock. After fol- 
lowing the track for a while I got sight of the 
flock, crept up within distance, and killed two, 
one with each barrel. The turkeys thereupon 
scattered and flew, and some passing near Lind- 
say, he killed one on the wing. Neither of us 
shot with a rifle. Those turkeys had not been 
shot at much, and they were nothing like as wild 
as those of Illinois. It was the best turkey-shoot- 
ing I ever saw. We followed up the main body, 
and every now and then I would go after a strag- 
gler who had left it, and shoot him as he left 



■WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 239 

his squatting-place. At noon I had killed cloven 
turkeys and Lindsay three. I got the most shots, 
as I went after the stragglers, while he kept on 
the track of the flock. The turkeys Aveighed from 
ten to eighteen pounds each. They were not quite 
so fat as our Illinois turkeys commonly are, but 
their flavor was delicious, and their flesh very ten- 
der and juicy — just what that of a wild turkey in 
perfection is. 

We placed our turkeys safe hung in a tree, 
and, going to a house, got dinner, arranging 
with the man that he should take us and our 
game to our camp in the evening with his wagon 
and team. Deer were plentiful thereabout. In 
the afternoon I shot at a big buck with turkey- 
shot, and hit him hard. He bled freely as he 
ran, and we followed on his trail. That pre- 
vented us from getting any more turkeys that 
day. We kept on the buck's track for a long 
distance, hoping to get another shot at him. 
We could not do so, however, and the trail 
finally led to a place where there had been such 
a number of deer that day that their tracks 
were all mixed up. We saw three going over 
the brow of a hill, but they were far out of 
shot. So we concluded to give up further exer- 



240 FIELD SHOOTING. 

tions, and, returning to the house, we found the 
man and his team ready. On our road to camp 
we took up our turkeys, and ended a busy day 
-with a capital supper by the blazing fire. It 
was the best day's turkey-shooting I ever had, 
and we could have got more of them if we had 
not been led off on a fruitless chase after the 
deer. With breech-loading guns and buckshot 
cartridges in the left barrels for deer, we could 
have got several fat ones, as well as the tur- 
keys. 

In the three weeks we were in camp at 
Shoal Creek we shot between fifty and sixty 
turkeys, not going for them especially, except on 
favorable days, when fresh snow had fallen. 
Our sport in this neighborhood was good in 
every respect, but in one regard we had great 
discomfort. The weather was hard, and wc 
were very cold at night. Young sportsmen will 
sometimes read descriptions in which the writers 
say that they slept out all night without a tent, 
the thermometer below zero, and that wrapped 
in their blankets, with their feet to the fire, 
they were very comfortable. In my opinion 
this is all humbug. I have been out many a 
night, but it was in moderately warm weather. 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 241 

The thing to be most apprehensive about then 
is a thunder-storm. 

I was once caught in one. in the middle of 
the night, early in the fall, on the Delavan 
Prairie, which is in Logan County, sixteen miles 
from Elkhart. The unbroken prairie was then 
eight or ten miles in extent. In fact, there was 
no cultivated land on it, except near the strips 
of timber by which it was bounded. I went 
out in a buggy, and alone, to shoot pinnated 
grouse in the evening, and though I meant to 
stay on the prairie all night, and shoot again 
in the morning, I took no tent. A blanket to 
lay on the ground under the buggy, and another 
to cover me, were deemed sufficient. 

I shot until dark over two good dogs, and 
had fine sport. I then drove to a part of the 
prairie where men had been cutting grass for 
fodder, and left it in cocks, and pulled up there 
for the night. I tied the horse to the wheel, gave 
him a feed of corn in the bottom of the buggy, 
watered him, and tossed him down a lot of the 
new-made prairie-hay. The scent of it pervaded 
the air of the space all around, and was very 
sweet and grateful. I got my own cold supper, 
and. lying down under the buggy with the dogs 



242 FIELD SHOOTING. 

near me, 1 soon fell asleep. It was a still night, 
no air stirring even on the open prairie "where I 
was when I went to rest. But about one o'clock 
there arose a strong wind, the forerunner of a 
mighty storm. 

Awakened by the change in the weather, I got 
up, and, looking to windward, saw an immense 
black cloud looming high up towards the zenith, 
and coming on at a rapid rate towards the prairie. 
Knowing very well what it meant, and seeing the 
forked lightning already darting down from it, 
while the rumble of the distant thunder overbore 
the rushing of the wind, I piled up a lot of hay 
around the buggy to windward, and got under it 
again. I had not been there many minutes when 
the storm burst with fearful fury, seemingly right 
over my head. Then came lightning, thunder, and 
torrents of rain altogether, as it were. The light- 
ning was so vivid and so rapid that the horse 
got scared and trembled, the dogs cowered and 
crept closer to me, and I was much alarmed. The 
lightning ran round the tires of the wheels, so 
that the wagon seemed to be shod with fire. It 
lit up the prairie at every flash, and the flashes 
were almost continuous, so that I could see 
white houses Ave or six miles off as plain, or 



WILD TURKEY AND DKKH CIIOGTIKG. "24 J 

plainer, than I could by day. The thunder-claps 
were so heavy that it appeared as if they would 
split my head open. For more than an hour 
the storm kept on. Then it abated almost as 
suddenly as ib came, and I soon went to sleep 
again. This was the heaviest thunder-storm I ever 
experienced. 1 Avas more in fear during that hour 
than 1 ever was before, or than I have been since. 
What with the horse and the dogs and myself 
altogether in a group, the bright tires of the wheels, 
and the steel locks and barrels of my gun, the 
danger must have been great. But, blessed be 
God, it was averted ! 

In the morning the dogs rose refreshed, as I did 
myself. They worked well. The scent lay thick 
on the wet ground, and I never shot better. 1 
killed forty-three grouse before the sun got very 
high in the forenoon, and returned home with a 
large bag of very fine birds. 

When men camp out with a tent without a 
stove, and they keep a large fire in front of the 
tent, as they will be sure to do in cold weather, 
there is considerable danger that their canvas 
may take fire. I have had three tents burned up. 
A change of wind during the night may blow 
glowing embers right up to the canvas, and set 



244 FIELD SHOOTING. 

fire to it, if no one is awake to look after it. And 
twice my tent caught fire in the daytime, "when 
we thought there was no danger, and went off 
hunting wifh no one left at camp. Therefore I 
say to every one who means to camp out on 
sporting excursions, get a nice little stove. The 
cost is small, the comfort large, and, except through 
gross carelessness, there can he no danger what- 
ever. 

To give a description of the common deer of 
this country would be mere folly and imperti- 
nence. It is often supposed that it likes best to 
range in the vast forests, but I believe that to be 
a mistake. Deer are most fond of a country in 
which there are belts of timber-land and brush 
interspersed with prairies and savannas. Much 
of that part of Illinois where I lived at first is 
somewhat of that character. When I first went 
to the State, deer were exceedingly plentiful. I 
have myself seen as many as thirty in a herd, and 
men who had lived a long time in that part of 
Illinois, when I went to reside there, told me they 
had seen herds which could not have contained 
less than seventy-five. In the cold weather the 
deer went to the timber for shelter. In the warm 
weather they did not go much to the woodland 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 245 

to pass the heat of the day, as one might have 
well supposed they would, but they spent some 
hours before and after noonday lying in the long 
grass of the prairie near sloughs, where it grows 
particularly rank and tall. 

Deer have much decreased in number in that 
part of Illinois of late years, though* they may 
still be met with occasionally, and shot by a man 
who knows how to go about it. In the earlier 
times of my residence in the State they used to 
feed upon the young wheat, where fall wheat had 
been sowed out upon the prairie. At about sun- 
rise they might be seen feeding in these fields, 
and looking like so many calves. When it was 
broad daylight, they retired to the long grass near 
the sloughs, or to thick brush in the woodland, 
or to patches of high weeds, and there they would 
lie until cveninsr. There are some deer in Ford 
County vet. Three or four were killed there 
last winter — two of them on Mr. Sullivant's farm. 
Another was chased right through the town of 
Gibson, and killed below it. At Oliver's Grove, 
in Iroquois County, there used to be large numbers 
of deer, and some may be found there yet. In 
the southern part of Illinois, down toward and 
in the district called Egypt, deer are found in 



240 FIELD SHOOTING 

fair numbers. But the best place near Illinois in 
which to hunt them is the northern part of Mis- 
souri. Deer are numerous in parts of Kansas, 
and about Omaha, Nebraska, there are many to 
be found. 

This last-named city is a good point for sport- 
ing tourists ; various descriptions of game abound, 
and the shooting club includes many excellent 
sportsmen and gentlemen among its members. 
The best place in the city to obtain information 
as to localities and to meet sportsmen is the store 
of Mr. D. C. Sutphen, gunmaker and dealer. 
And a very good place to stop at, as I found by 
personal experience, is the Grand Central Hotel. 
Wild turkeys, deer, pinnated grouse, wild geese, 
ducks, etc., may be shot in the vicinity of Omaha. 

The first deer I ever killed was in Woodford 
County, Illinois. I was out with an old hunter, 
who set me to follow the track of the herd, 
and took post himself at a runway, where he 
thought he should be sure to get a good shot. 
But it did not so fall out. I followed a herd of 
five or six for about three miles, and on coming 
to the top of a hill I saw a deer in the val- 
ley below, standing on the edge of the slope, 
with its side to me. He wao about two hun- 



WILD TURKEY AND DEEtt SHOOTING. 247 

dred yards off, but I determined to have a 
crack at him, and, throwing my rifle up, 1 took 
aim just behind the lower part of the shoulder. 
Mine was an old-fashioned, long, hunting-rifle, 
with steel barrel, carrying a ball forty to the 
pound. At the shot the deer made a buck-jump 
full ten feet into the air, and bounded away. I 
thought 1 had missed him, but my partner, on 
coming to the spot where he had stood, and looking 
narrowly around, thought not, and determined to 
follow his tracks. The fact was, as he told mc 
soon afterwards, that he saw a tinge of blood 
upon the snow on the other side of the place 
where the deer had stood when I shot at him, 
and concluded that the ball had gone through 
him. He soon found that the deer straddled In 
his tracks and spread his hoofs, and then he 
knew he was badly wounded. The buck was 
found dead two hundred yards from where he 
was when 1 shot at him. The ball had gone 
clean through him, and also through his heart, 
after which he ran two hundred yards. I did 
not hunt deer much at that time, but I was 
soon a good shot with the rifle, and have killed 
a running deer with it. 

I afterwards became acquainted with a man 



248 FIELD &HOOTIXO. 

named Wilcox, who was the greatest deer-hunter 
in Illinois. He had a system of his own, and a 
very successful system it certainly was, as he 
managed it. He hunted on horseback, and his 
weapon was a heavy double-barrelled shot-gun, 
with strong charges of powder and buckshot. 
Late in the fall, when the sloughs were low and 
held but little water, he used to ride down the 
middle of them. AY hen a deer got up from 
among the long grass on cither side, Wilcox 
fired from the back of the horse, and knocked the 
buck or doe over. I soon found that was the best 
way, and adopted it myself, but I never had as 
much success at it as W T ilcox did. The trouble 
was that 1 could neither get a really steady horse 
under fire nor shoot very well on horseback *at 
that time. The horse Wilcox used in his hunts 
had been accustomed to it so long that he knew 
just what was wanted, and when the reins were 
dropped he stood like a rock until the gun 
w r ent off. 

When deer are lying down, ib is much easier to 
approach their lair, so as to get a shot on their 
rising, on horseback than on foot. It is now obso- 
lete in our part of Illinois, as there are no deer 
to shoot; but I should think it might be followed 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. '249 

to advantage in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and 
Arkansas, where there are still plenty. It should 
also be tried in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, etc. 
Even in barrens and timber-land it would be 
better to hunt deer in this way than to still 
hunt for them on foot, if the ground is prac- 
ticable for a horse. In some rugged places a 
horse cannot go ; and in wet marshes, morasses, 
and shaking bogs a horse with a man on his 
back would sink in and be unable to struggle 
out. In Missouri deer are generally driven with 
hounds, and shot at crossing-places and runways. 
There are also many killed by still hunting. 

To have any chance of success in deer-hunt- 
ing, it is necessary that the sportsman should 
know the lay of the country and the places in 
which they are likely to be found. A stranger 
to the neighborhood had better get an old hunter 
to go out with him for a few days. A know- 
ledge of their habits in the different localities is 
required, and it would take a long time to learn 
these if they were not imparted by some one 
who knows them. The deer are now wild aiu} 
shy in most places. They have a keen nose, and 
can scent a man to windward before he can see 
them, which makes it requisite to hunt up-wind. 



250 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Some deer are shot at salt-licks, to which they 
resort at night, and I believe the practice of fire- 
hunting is sometimes followed in the south. It 
is not pursued in the West. 






CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 

The practical art of shooting birds on the wing, 
valuable accomplishment as it is, delightful in 
itself, and highly conducive to health and strength 
by leading to vigorous exercise in the fields, is 
readily acquired. Any one who is well enough to 
walk abroad and carry a gun may attain fair pro- 
ficiency in it; for those whose nervous tempera- 
ment prevents this are few indeed, and need not 
be taken into account. Some men, indeed, have 
a natural gift, by means of which, with the great 
practice such gift and its corresponding inclination 
are sure to induce, they become dead shots, the 
masters of the art of shooting. Still, there are 
very few who may not become good shots if they 
follow proper methods and practice much in pur- 
suance of wise instructions. To begin at an early 
age is a good thing. Many boys can shoot as 
well as men, allowing for the smaller practice and 
shorter experience they have had. The parents 
of some youths are disinclined to let them have 

251 



252 FIELD SIIOOT1.XG. 

guns for fear of accidents, but there is no ground 
for apprehension on this point. The handling of 
the gun prevents accidents with guns, instead of 
causing them. In those cases we hear of in which 
thoughtless persons shoot their friends accidentally, 
it will be found in nineteen cases out of twenty 
that the gun was not in the hands of a boy or 
young man who shoots in the field, but in those 
of one who only knows a gun by sight, and is 
wholly unacquainted with the proper management 
of it. It is a million to one that a boy who shoots, 
or is learning to shoot, will never shoot one of his 
sisters or friends. Such things are only done by 
those who have nothing to do with firearms in 
their proper places. The latter have an idea that 
they will kill, but they hardly know how. On 
the other hand, the shooter sees execution done by 
his gun on birds, and, knowing that there is death 
in the barrel, never fools about with it, letting the 
muzzle cover people. Therefore I say that wher- 
ever there is convenience for it parents should 
let their sons learn to shoot, and they need not 
be afraid to do so because their boys are com- 
paratively young. There is no more danger of a 
gun, to himself or other persons, in the hands of 
u boy of fourteen years of age, than there is of 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 253 

one in the hands of a young man of twenty who 
is equally new to the practice of shooting. The 
boys must begin some time, if they are to shoot 
at all, and to put it off reminds one of the mother 
who declared that her son must not go into the 
water until he had learned to swim. 

I now purpose to give such brief instructions 
to beginners in shooting and young sportsmen, 
together with hints which may be taken advan- 
tage of by marksmen of experience, as I believe 
will be useful. Two of the things essential to 
success in the field are the loading of the gun 
for the different varieties of game, and its hand- 
ling when game is found and takes wing. It is 
a common error to use shot of a size larger than 
necessary, and very often there is too much of it. 
A timid man is afraid to put in plenty of pow- 
der, of which there can hardly be too much as 
long as the gun will burn it, and he increases 
the charge of shot under the strange delusion 
that he thus compensates for the deficiency of 
the explosive part of the charge. A gun badly 
loaded is like a bad watch — it deceives and mor- 
tifies its owner. 

The choice of guns has been already alluded 
to, and, I repeat, beware of choosing one that is 



2<> 1 FIELD SHOOTING. 

very light. In a gun of more weight the capa- 
city of shooting strong charges with ease and 
comfort, and of killing more game, altogether out- 
weighs the carrying of an extra pound or pound 
and a half. Boys, it is true, must have light 
guns, and there are very nice, safe, good-shoot- 
ing guns made for boys. In choosing one for your 
son or nephew, however, do not choose a light 
gun of those made for boys. It is not to be a 
sort of handsome toy-gun, but a serviceable arti- 
cle, such as will inspire the boy with the confi- 
dence which begets success and leads to skill, by 
hitting and killing whenever it is held right. The 
light single-barrelled guns made for boys do not 
amount to much. It will be better, in buying a 
gun for a youth who has not had one before, to 
pay more money and purchase a breech-loader, sin- 
gle-barrel if he is young and not strong, but a 
double-barrel if he is fifteen years old and fairly 
robust. Generally the height of the youth is not 
to be taken into account in this matter. Many 
boys who are not tall for their age have more 
strength and endurance than those who are. A 
breech-loader is much more easily loaded and a 
great deal safer than a muzzle-loader, as regards 
accidents, in the hands of either man or bov. 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 255 

The gun being provided, the youth to whom it 
belongs is to handle it, and practise the handling 
of it, just as if it was loaded, until he brings it up 
to his shoulder clean and well, and feels as well 
able to manage it nicely and quickly as he is 
to handle his bat at base-ball or cricket. In this 
practice with the gun he is to be careful that he 
never lets the muzzle look towards a person. It 
is to be a cardinal principle that the gun in his 
hands, whether charged or not, shall never point 
towards man or boy, woman or girl, in the field, 
or the house, or anywhere else. When the youth 
handles the gun well unloaded, the next thing 
is to load. Young sportsmen in embryo must 
begin with light charges. For a breech-loader he 
may use the metal cases for his cartridges, or 
the paper cases if he does not want to use the 
case more than once. The gun-maker will show 
him how to load them, and until he can do it 
properly himself he had better get it done by a 
friend who understands it. He will learn to do 
it very easily. 

At first the cartridges for the youth or young 
man must be loaded lightly ; for if they are 
not, and his gun should kick, he may become 
afraid of it, shut both his eyes when he pulls 



256 FIELD SH00TTNO. 

trigger, hold it unsteadily, and tall into such 
habits as may prevent him from ever becoming 
a good shot. He •will already have learned to 
stand upright, with his left foot in advance, and 
his right a little back to brace the body when 
he brings his gun up as if to deliver fire. 

With cartridges loaded with three or three and 
a half drachms of powder and an ounce of shot, 
No. 8 or No. 9, the youth is to go into a field, 
yard, or any safe place, and put up a target of 
paper a foot square against a building, a wall, 
a tree, or a board. He may then retire twenty 
yards, load his gun, take aim right along the rib 
of a double-barrel, along the top of the barrel 
and sight if single, and as soon as he has taken 
aim pull the trigger. 1 think a boy will usually 
get a quicker and better sight with a double- 
barrel gun than with a single-barrel. In taking 
aim the youth will naturally shut his left eye, 
and this is proper. I have heard men say that 
it is best to shoot without shutting one eye. 
For my part 1 cannot see it. One eye is cer- 
tainly quite as good as two when it is taking 
aim along the gun at the object, and I believe a 
good deal better. In snap-shooting both eyes are 
often open when the fire is delivered, but even in 



THE ART OF SHOOTTNG ON THE WING. S57 

that most good shots instinctively shut the left 
eye at the instant of firing. 

The youth must load again after his shot, and 
then go up to the target to see how many shot 
he put into it, change the paper, and try again. 
The main points are to get good, quick aim, 
and then fire on the instant, with the gun firmly 
held and well "braced against the shoulder. But 
the gun is not to be fired in a hurried, nap-ha- 
zard sort of way without a sight being obtained 
at all. When the object is once sighted, the 
shooter is to fire, and not delay the discharge 
under the notion that he can do better. The first 
sight is the best. With practice and the con- 
sumption of a little powder and shot the youth 
will soon become familiar with the shooting of 
his gun, and learn to bring it up, take aim, and 
fire without any pause between those operations. 
He will then find that he can hit the target 
every time with the centre of the charge; and as 
this is the way to kill, he is now to begin at 
birds. Boys have a hankering after shooting at 
sitting birds. This is not to be indulged in. The 
target is better practice than sitting birds, because 
if the youthful shooter goes after the latter he 
will ramble about half a day without getting as 



258 FIELD SHOOTING. 

many shots in distance as he can make at the 
target in a quarter of an hour. Therefore, when 
the young shooter begins at birds, it is to be 
at birds on the wing — slow-flying birds, such as 
meadow-larks, swamp blackbirds, and the like. 

The young shooter will be able to get within 
twenty yards of larks. When the bird gets up, 
bring the gun to the shoulder, take quick aim, 
and fire. There is to be no dwelling on the aim, 
which is to be point blank at a bird going 
straight away from the gun, just as the sight 
was plump on the target. By going into the 
meadows and fields where swamp blackbirds fly 
up and down, the young sportsman may stand 
and shoot at them as they go by. These will 
be cross-shots — or side shots, as I call them, be- 
cause, the side of the bird is presented to the gun. 
One bird must always be selected for the shot, 
when there is a flock, or several birds arc fly- 
ing near together; and as the course of the bird 
is across the line of fire, allowance must be made 
for that fact. The aim must be a little ahead 
of the flying bird. At short distances and at 
slow-flying birds a little is enough, but there 
should be some allowance made. For these birds 
at short distances No. 10 shot will be largo 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 259 

enough. When longer shots are in order for the 
improving shooter, No. 8 may be used ; and as he 
Avill now have acquired confidence in himself and 
his gun, more powder may be employed. After 
a while he will learn the quantity of powder 
with which his gun shoots best with ease and 
comfort to himself in delivering fire. 

At first the young shooter at birds on the wing 
may expect misses, perhaps a good many of them, 
but he need not be disheartened. When he 
misses, let him consider and hit upon the pro- 
bable cause of the miss. It may be that he shot 
too high or too low, or behind the bird — which 
is very likely if it was a cross-shot — or he may 
have shot in a hurried, flustered way without 
taking aim. To whatever cause he thinks the 
miss may have been owing, let him resolve to 
guard against it another time. 1 wish to impress 
upon the young shooter that missing within easy 
distance is not a matter of chance. Under such 
circumstances there is always a cause why the 
miss was not a hit, and it is desirable that he 
who has made it should find out the cause and 
be prepared to prevent it. If he does this, he 
will steadily improve in his shooting, and may 
probably become in time a u crack shot," which 



2G0 FIELD SHOOTING. 

signifies one of the best. Going on missing time 
after time, without stopping to consider why the 
bird was missed, will not do. 

When a bird is going straight away from the 
gun, the miss of the beginner is commonly ow- 
ing to under-shooting. His line of fire, straight 
ahead, is apt to be correct, but he often shoots 
too low. Let him remember that a bird getting 
up near him and flying away is almost always 
rising for some distance. If the young shooter 
gets sight of the bird, he is certain not to shoot 
too high, and he may shoot too low ; therefore 
keep the gun up, and if you see a feather of 
the bird in sighting along the ridge, crack away. 
You will be nearly certain to bring it down. 
Misses at birds which present side shots, and fly 
across the line of fire, are usually owing to shoot- 
ing behind the bird. The young shooter, as 
1 observed before, must allow for the forward 
motion of the bird he aims at ; and if at short 
distances, at larks and swamp blackbirds, he 
shoots ten or twelve inches ahead of the bird, 
he will be sure to hit it, provided the gun had 
the right elevation. 

When the young shooter, after having missed 
two or three side shots, thinks it was owing to 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 261 

his shooting behind his birds, he must deter- 
mine to hold ahead of the next that crosses. 
It is two to one that he will bring that one 
down, although he is but a beginner. The ne- 
cessity of aiming ahead of crossing birds is often 
not thoroughly understood even by adult sports- 
men whose practice has been large ; and the dis- 
tance at which it is proper to hold at a 
fast-flying bird crossing a long shot off is 
almost universally under-estimated. The gun at 
the shoulder must move with the bird until aim 
is taken the proper distance ahead of it. Then 
shoot instantly. The young shooter must practise 
all he can, neglecting no opportunity. When by 
proper instructions he has been taught what he 
is to do and how he is to do it, practice is 
the thing through w r hich he will improve and 
perhaps become a first-rate shot. When he has 
been well entered at larks, swamp blackbirds, 
swallows and the like, he will be fit to go out 
with a companion, an old sportsman who knows 
how to manage dogs ; if convenient, after game- 
birds. 

Pinnated grouse, the young ones at the early 
part of the season, afford the very best practice 
for the beginners who have had some shooting 



262 FIELD SHOOTING. 

at larks and blackbirds. If the commencement 
of the shooting season is changed by law from 
the fifteenth of August to the first of September, 
as I hope it will be, the young birds will still 
be sufficiently easy for the youthful sportsman. 
As it is now, they might be a little difficult on 
and after the first of September ; for having been 
shot at almost incessantly for the last sixteen days 
in August, they have become rather wild, and 
the feeble ones have all been killed. I am sa- 
tisfied that if the grouse season opened on the 
first of September, I could take a youth who 
had practised at larks and blackbirds, as above 
described, and had never seen a live grouse in 
his life, and so instruct him in the field by 
precept and example that his shooting should 
improve right along, so that late in October 
and November, he should often succeed in stop- 
ping grouse, when, according to some who call 
themselves sportsmen, they are so wild and diffi- 
cult that they can't be killed with the gun at all. 
But as the young sportsmen of the East have 
no chance at the grouse of Illinois, Iowa, etc., 
and quail and snipe arc too difficult to afford 
fair practice for beginners, I should recommend 
the youthful gunners to try their hands at the 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 2(33 

migratory thrushes, called robins. These birds flock 
together in the fall before they go south, and fly 
up and down rows of trees in fields, or along 
fences, from, tree to tree, in lanes, and about by- 
roads. They will afford good practice. The be- 
ginner need not be deterred from shooting at 
them by the name " robin/' because these 
birds are no more robins than woodcocks are. 
All three have red breasts, and so has the 
bullfinch. The young shooter, as a matter of 
course, will not shoot at these handsome birds 
when they are about gentlemen's lawns, where 
they ornament the smooth-shorn turf and embel- 
lish the shrubbery. The time for action at 
them is when they flock preparatory to migration, 
when they will be found in such places as have 
been mentioned. The young sportsman may often 
be able to get shots at these birds sitting, but 
he should not take them. His main object is to 
learn to shoot well at birds on the wing, and 
to this end three so killed are of more account 
than three dozen shot sitting on tree-tops and 
on the boughs of scrub pines and cedars. 

A. boy who can bring down one-third of the 
larks and blackbirds he shoots at, and can stop a 
swallow once out of three or four times when 



2(54 FIELD GITOOTIXG. 

they are flying low and darting a little, as they 
generally do before rain, is sufficiently advanced 
to go into the field after game. Once there, 
the same principles apply to him as ought to 
govern older marksmen, but do not always do so. 
During the first part of my residence in Illinois, 
although T was a good shot, as twenty brace of 
quail may serve to prove, I was nothing like as 
good as I have since become. Years of experience, 
shooting many months in each year, and nearly 
every day except Sundays, with much thought 
over the principles of shooting as an art, have en- 
abled me to arrive at as much certainty as men 
attain to. It may seem like boasting, but never- 
theless I declare my conviction that I can shoot 
game-birds on the wing, in the field, as well as 
any man who lives or- ever did live. I have had 
a challenge out for three years, offering to shoot 
against any man in the world, Yv'estern field- 
shooting, and another offering to shoot against any 
man in the world at pigeons. The challenge for 
field-shooting has now been withdrawn, in con- 
sequence of the accident which befell me in 1872, 
when I was shot clean through the right thigh 
by my own gun when the muzzle touched me. 
It occurred in the way I shall now relate. 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 265 

I was engaged in shooting pinnated grouse in 
December, in the neighborhood of Elkhart. 
On the ninth of that month, when starting at 
break of day, I drove to Mr. Gillott's pastures in 
my buggy, and got there before it was quite 
light. I opened the gate, went into the pas- 
ture, and, getting into the buggy again, prepared 
for shooting. The birds at that time were quite 
wild, and it was necessary to shoot them from 
the buggy. My gun lay upon my knees, both 
barrels cocked. As I was stooping over to draw 
the blanket upon my knees, the right fore-wheel 
of the buggy fell into a deep rut. The gun 
canted, and before I could catch it the butt hit 
the hind wheel, and the right barrel went off, 
making a hole through my thigh. The gun 
was loaded with five drams of powder and an 
ounce of No. 6 shot. It was a terrible wound, 
but happily most of the shot missed the thigh- 
bone. Some, however, hit it, but did not break 
it. They are in my thigh now. I drove home, 
was laid up four months, and am now well again. 
But the wound has had the following effect : I 
cannot walk as long as I used to do before I re- 
ceived it. It is also very painful at times, so 
much so that I almost fear it is going to break 



206* FIELD SHOOTING. 

out again. Now, under this altered state of 
things, it would hardly do for me to shoot against 
any man in the world, and see who could kill 
the most game in a week, say ; but I will even 
now shoot against any man in the world, for a 
reasonable number of hours on a reasonable num- 
ber of days, and take shot about, as game 
offers, one man to follow the shot of the other. 
I shall now relate the methods I have finally 
adopted. To young sportsmen what I shall ad- 
vance will certainly be instructive and useful, and 
I think many old ones may gather things from it 
which will be of service to them. One- half the 
shots made at birds in the field are at birds which 
fly across the shooter, presenting side shots, or go 
quartering off from him, so that their course forms 
an obtuse angle with the line of fire. Most of 
the misses which occur in shooting at such birds 
are owing to the failure of the shooter to hold 
forward enough so that the centre of the charge 
will be upon the bird when the shot reaches him. 
The centre of the flight of shot should reach the 
line of his flight just where he will be when the 
line of the shot intersects his line of flight, not 
where he was when the aim was made. The fur- 
ther the bird is from the shooter, the faster he is 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON" THE WING. 2f)7 

going, and the nearer his line of flight is at fight 
angles with the line of the gun, the more the 
shooter must hold ahead of him to kill. I have 
had this very thoroughly impressed upon me sinee 
I" have been a pigeon-shooter. When a man is 
in the field killing plenty of birds, and game is 
abundant, he does not pause to consider how it 
was he missed this bird or that. lie pushes on 
to where his dogs have made another point. But 
when a man misses once or twice in ten birds 
from the traps, and there are five hundred or a 
thousand dollars depending upon his gun, he is 
apt to cogitate over the reasons of these things. 

I had already noticed that in field-shooting more 
of the birds got away crippled from side shots 
than from other kinds. The reason, I concluded, 
was simply this : the gun was not held quite for- 
ward enough, and, instead of being in the line of 
the centre of the charge, the bird was merely struck 
by one or two of the shot on the outer edge of 
the flight. If he was flying to the left, nothing but 
the outer shot on the left side would hit him ; and 
if to the right, nothing but the straggling outside 
shot on the right. I began to hold more forward 
at crossing birds, and then I found that instead 
of being hit and getting away crippled, the birds 



2ti$ FIELD SHOOTING. 

covered by the centre of the flying charge, or 
thereabout, were cut down dead. 

In pigeon-shooting 1 soon made this principle a 
matter of nice calculation. Many may think that 
at only twenty-one yards from the trap there is 
no need for the practical application of this prin- 
ciple; but'l know there is. At easy, slow- flying 
"birds, going right or left from the trap, I hold 
three or four inches ahead of the bird. It is well 
known by those who attend the great pigeon- 
shooting tournaments and matches that I generally 
kill all such birds, while some other men, who are 
very good shots, often miss them. The reason is 
plain to my mind : they shoot a little behind the 
bird. At a fast-flying crossing bird I hold from 
eight to ten inches ahead; at a quartering bird 
from three to four inches. At a bird which goes 
straight away close to the ground I hold right on, 
well covered, because he is rapidly advancing. At 
one going straight away and rising I shoot high, 
because he is rising, and if you hold right on to 
him you are apt to under-shoot ; and though you 
may wound him, he will be likely to get out of 
bounds. At an incoming bird I shoot right at 
the head, and 1 rarely fail to kill. Incoming birds 
are often missed from under-shootinc The hard. 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 269 

est of all birds are those which go straight away 
from the trap in the line of the shooter, at a very 
swift rate, and close to the ground. Such birds 
get hard hit, but they often get out of bounds. 
They present a very small mark ; their wings 
are closed, perhaps, when the shot reaches where 
they are, the charge scatters, and their heads 
are covered by their bodies for the most part. 

In field-shooting it is very necessary to apply 
the foregoing principles, because the bird shot at 
will often be forty yards off, and perhaps more. 
At a pinnated grouse going straight away the 
shooter should aim right on. When a side shot 
is presented, and the bird is going at a middling 
rate, thirty yards off, aim from ten to twelve 
inches ahead of it. Quartering shots must be 
judged of according to distance and rate of flight ; 
taking my pigeon-shooting experience as a standard 
and guide, and remembering that late in the fall, 
when grouse rise far off and fly fast, the shooter 
must hold further ahead of crossing and quartering 
birds. 

Some think that the barrels of a double-bar- 
relled gun shoot a little in — that is, the right 
barrel shoots a little to the left, and the left 
barrel a little to the right. If some guns do this, 



270 FIELD SHOOTING. 

they ought not to perform so. Good guns do not. 
I would not have a gun which shot in. It is wrong 
in principle. 

At a quail flying fast across at twenty yards 
hold twelve inches ahead of the bird. Some- 
times in quail-shooting a bevy put up by an- 
other sportsman near at hand will come by a 
shooter, crossing at immense speed thirty or forty 
yards off, perhaps more. In such a case hold 
three feet ahead of the bird you shoot at. 1 
have often done so, and killed him. At ruffed 
grouse and woodcock in cover, and at pinnated 
grouse and quail in corn, snap-shots must be 
made. The sportsman must shoot at the glimpse 
of the bird, and, if he sees that it is crossing, a 
little in advance of it. A little will do in most 
cases, because the birds are hardly seen far oft' 
in thick cover or in corn. For snap-shooting of 
this sort a good-fitting gun is an absolute neces- 
sity, so that when it is tossed up it will come 
slap to the shoulder. 

In duck-shooting, at the morning flights, when 
they are overhead and from thirty to forty yards 
in the air, hold from fifteen inches to two feet 
ahead of the bird you aim at, according to the 
rapidity at which it is moving. Great judgment 



THE ART OF SHOOTINe; ON' THE WINQ. *2T 1 

is to be exercised, and much practice U neces* 
aapy to attain it. There is always a certain space 
of time between the aim and the arrival of the 
shot at the mark ; and if the mark is moving 
across the muzzle of the gun, allowance must be 
made for it. Birds overhead are always crossing 
the muzzle of the gun, unless they sec the shooter 
and tower up. After the taking of the aim, 
though ever so little after, the trigger has to be 
pulled, the hammer has to fall, the powder has 
to be ignited, and the shot to be propelled to 
the object shot at. Now, I often noticed that 
in shooting at the leading duck -of a flock pass- 
ing overhead which did not see me, and tower, 
I missed the one 1 shot at, and killed another 
one two feet behind the one which led the van 
and was aimed at. This made me resolve to hold 
more forward than I had been doing. Pintails 
and teal fly faster than mallards, and a little more 
allowance in taking aim will be good. I have seen 
a pintail killed Avhich was three feet behind the 
duck shot at, and this more than once. 

Wild geese and crane are slow flyers, and at 
these all that is necessary is to aim at the head, be- 
hind which there is the large body. But in shoot- 
ing at wild geese and crane with large shot, and 



27'2 FIELD SHOOTING. 



making a long shot, the shooter had better hold a 
little forward of the head of the bird. In windy 
weather the shot deflects somewhat from the 
straight course, and flies off a little to leeward. Al- 
lowance must be made for this, especially by those 
who use light charges of powder. 

As to distance, there is this to be observed : al- 
though wild geese and ducks arc almost always 
further off than they are supposed to be, they will 
be killed easily enough with a good gun and a 
proper charge, provided the gun is held right. I 
have often killed ducks and brant geese which 
were sixty yards off, and a few which were not 
less than a hundred. But there is no certainty of 
killing birds at more than forty yards, owing to 
the spread of the shot as it flies in diverging lines 
from the muzzle of the gun; and twice as many 
are killed at twenty-five yards and under as there 
are at over that distance. I have heard men boast 
of killing all the pinnated grouse they shot at 
within a hundred yards, and I immediately con- 
cluded that this might be true if they never shot 
grouse at any distance. It is like the story of the 
man who declared that his horse could run less 
than a mile a minute, whereupon an Irish jockey 
exclaimed: "That's a d — d lie!" 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON TFIE WING. '2~3 

1 did once kill a pinnated grouse at ninety- 
live yards, but it was by a chance shot. I and 
Miles Johnson, of New Jersey, were shooting in 
McLean County with No. 7 shot. A pack of 
grouse got up together, of which he killed two 
and I killed two. One of the others circled 
round a long way off, and I slipped in another 
cartridge. The bird presented a long side shot, 
flying fast. I held as much as six feet ahead 
of him, and let fly. One of the shot happened 
to hit him in the head, and down he came with 
a heavy thud. Johnson stepped the ground from 
where 1 fired, and made it ninety-five yards to 
the dead grouse. It must have been as far off 
when the single shot killed it, for it fell perpen- 
dicularly, there being next to no wind. It was 
all a matter of chance. I had no expectation of 
killing the bird when I fired, and might shoot 
fifty times under the like circumstances without 
killing once. 

I have recently visited the shot-tower of Tatham 
Brothers, and that of Thos. Otis Le Eoy & Co. 
The shot made at these towers is excellent. The 
latter is made according to the American stand- 
ard adopted by the New York Sportsman's As< 
sociation, which is as follows ; 



£74 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



Scale. 
Diameter in inches 






.Numbei 








Number of Pellets 
to an ounce. 


-21_ 

100 








. TT . 








32 


.2 0. 
100 








. T . 








38 


_L9. 
1 o u 








. BBB . 








44 










. BB 








49 


.11- 
1 on 








. B 










58 


.1 BL 
l on 








. 1 










69 


_±5_ 

J 00 








. 2 










82 


.14. 

j oo 








. 3 . 










98 


rVo 








. 4 










121 


.Li. 
I oo 








. 5 










149 


-11. 

100 








. G 










209 


.10- 
1 








. 7 . 










278 


10 








. 8 










375 


_?_ 
i u u 








. 9 










560 


_7_ 
1 00 








. . 10 










. 822 


] Do 








. . 11 










. 982 


6 








. . 12 










. 1,778 



In reference to cartridge-cases, which I have had 
occasion to mention often, I shall here quote 
from the circular of the Union Metallic Cartridge 
Company, Bridgeport, Conn., for the information 
of sportsmen : 

"Special attention is called to the Sturtevant 
Patent Movable Anvil. By the use of these 
anvils in metallic shells certainty of fire is se- 
cured, and the exploded caps are easily pushed 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. "To 

oft' without the necessity of any special instru- 
ment. The rod which is used for pressing down 
the wads in loading the shells will also answer 
for pushing off the exploded caps. These shells 
are intended to use the breech-loading shell-caps 
of our own make, or the English caps, such as 
used in Eley's paper shells, but in case of ne- 
cessity the ordinary < G. D.' caps may be used. 
These shells are made to fit the standard gauges 
used by the principal gun-makers of England, 
are sure to lit the chambers of the guns, and 
will stand reloading a great many times. 

"The Sturtevant patent shells can be purchased' 
of or ordered from any dealer in ammunition. 
Also metallic shells for shot-guns having the 
Berdan patent anvils, Nos. 1 and 2, and both 
metallic and paper shells with the Hobbs and 
Orcutt patent primers, which have the anvils 
secured in the caps," 



CHAPTER XV. 

SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 

In my time I have bred and broken many 
clogs for the sports of the field, and always with 
a view to simple utility in the field. I think I 
have had some of the best dogs that a man ever 
shot over, and my system of breaking has always 
answered my purpose well ; but I do not pretend 
to be a dog-breaker ia regard to the particulars 
which many sportsmen hold to be necessary, but 
which I do not regard as essential in the light 
of my own experience. Therefore what I am 
about to say on this point is more for those 
who keep a dog or two of their own than for 
adepts in breaking dogs, or gentlemen who can 
afford to pay high prices in order to secure the 
results of high education in their pointers and 
setters. 1 propose to state on this subject what I 
know, and to mention some few facts in regard 
to dogs which I have bred, broken, and shot 
over which may serve to point the matter. 

For the prairie country, where, as 1 believe, the 

£76 



SPORTIN'G DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 277 

best shooting within a thousand miles of the Atlantic 
seaboard is to be had, the setter is probably to 
be preferred. There are, however, several weighty 
matters which tell in favor of the pointer. The 
latter stands heat better than the setter, and 
there are many hot days in September, and even 
in October. Some think the pointer stands thirst 
better than the setter, but the truth is that both 
want water every hour and a half or two hours. 
The defects of the pointer for the prairie are 
his thin skin and tender feet. In the fall of the 
year the prairie-grass has a beard which cut s 
into skin or leather. Shoot in a pair of new 
boots, and the toes will be cut through in about 
ten days or a fortnight, or in less time, if you 
go into the dry grass much while the leather is 
still wet. Consequently, as the skin of the pointer 
is not protected by a thick coat of wiry hair, 
like that of the best and hardiest setters, it is 
cut on the legs, flanks, sides, and the inside of 
the thighs. The feet are also cut and lamed. 

On the other hand, the long, thick coat of the 
setter gets full of cockle-burrs in those old field; 
in which game is often found, and they cause 
him a vast amount of trouble and annoy ance. 
About one-fourth of the time in such fields the 



2<5 FIELD SHOOTING. 

setter is trying to free himself from the burrs, 
and at night, if they are not carefully picked 
out of his coat by his master, he gets no rest, 
and is nearly useless the next day. Sportsmen 
who shoot over setters should always take care 
that they are freed from burrs in the evening. 
If they do not, their doers will be miserable all 
night, and not fit for use in the morning, when 
the prime of the sport is to be had. I have 
had capital setters, and I must say that I have 
had and seen pointers in the field which were 
equally good, subject to the drawbacks I have 
mentioned above in regard to each. 

Good dojjs of both kinds have fine scenting: 
powers, and the setters, so far as my experience 
goes, are as much under control as pointers when 
worked by men who know their business. Set- 
ters take to retrieving in water much better than 
pointers, and on the whole, as I remarked before, 
the setter is the best dog for our part of the 
country. When the skin of the pointer is cut 
by the prairie-grass and rough weeds, and the 
tops of his toes are raw, he comes out in the 
morning so stiff and sore that he is hardly able 
to hobble along at first. The dog's ambition car- 
riro him on, however, and he ^et^ morn linibor 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. $70 

after a while. But even then the flies settle on 
the sores and annoy him very much. 

Vrhen Miles Johnson came out to Illinois to 
shoot with me, he had four as nice pointers as I 
ever saw, while I had one cross-bred dog between 
the pointer and the setter which he said did not 
look to be worth ten dollars. But the pointers, 
though used by turns, soon got sore, and, in order 
to make frequent changes, he had to take them 
out when they were hardly fit to go. My cross- 
bred dog, on the contrary, was at work every day 
and never tired, so that Miles said many gentlemen 
in the East, if they saw his style of hunting, his 
stauifchness, and the game and bottom he dis- 
played, would give five hundred dollars for him. 
*I have bred and used cross-bred dogs for years, 
and for the Western country, all sorts of work 
in the field or cover, long days and many days in 
succession, I hold them to be the best of dogs. 
I like to put a pointer-dog, well bred and good 
in the field, to a setter-bitch of the same excel- 
lent qualities, or a setter-dog to a pointer-bitch ; it 
mak^s no difference, that I could ever see, which side 
the pointer-blood was, though some have a theory 
that it does. Nor does it matter what the colors 
cf the parents are. From a black setter-dog and 



280 FIELD SHOOTIKft. 

a white pointer-bitch I bred a litter of liver- 
colored pups which became first-rate dogs. 

Some of the cross-bred dogs take after the 
setter, and some after the pointer, in shape 
and coat, in the same litter. On the whole, 
I prefer those which follow the pointer. They 
have a short but thick coat and a tough skin, 
while the hair is not long enough to catch 
hold of the cockle-burrs. Both kinds are hearty, 
strong dogs, with good constitutions and capable 
of great endurance. As a rule, they are inclined 
to be headstrong and are difficult to break, but 
when they are broken and have learned their 
business they make first-rate dogs and hardly 
ever tire. 

Those cross-bred dogs which take after the 
pointer look like pointers, and many men think 
they are pointers ; but they have much better feet, 
and their legs and bodies are covered and well pro- 
tected by thick but short hair. I have found 
them good, tough dogs, capable of standing more 
hard work than cither pointers or setters, as a 
rule. Those which take after the setter have more 
power than setters, and great bone and substance. 
Their hair is not as long as the setter's, but it 
is thicker. Both kinds are as good for water 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 2&.1 

and cold weather as need be. They have had 
plenty of both in my service, and I know the 
fact. 

Another thing is that a timid dog is a rare 
exception among these cross-bred dogs. A timid 
dog gives immense trouble to breakers, and is, 
to my thinking, little better than a nuisance. A 
man must have great patience and forbearance 
to make much of timid dogs. If he corrects 
their faults, they are cowed at once, and slink 
behind his heels. The cross-bred dog, bold, high- 
headed, and eager, will run riot at first, but 
they can be educated and made to understand 
and perform their duties. They will stand punish- 
ment, and, in fact, cannot be broken without it : 
but when they are once well broken, they never 
forget what they have been taught to do or what to 
refrain from doing. As before remarked, I prefer 
those which follow the pointer in shape and coat, 
but I have had some Avhich took after the setter, 
and were as nearly perfect as dogs could be. I 
think the best dog I ever had was one of these : 
at any rate she was esteemed by me as worth 
her weight in gold. 

Fanny was the produce of a pure-bred lemon 
and white setter-bitch, and a pure-bred liver- 



X>S\> FIELD SHOOTINTt. 

colored pointer-dog. She took after her mother 
in shape and coat, but was larger and stronger, 
and was liver and white in color. She was of 
good size and strong. Her coat was thick 
and not as long as her mother's, and she had 
hut a little feather on the legs. She had splen- 
did scenting powers, was easily broken, was good 
for every sort of shooting, and the best retriever 
I ever saw. In retrieving pinnated grouse or 
quail, if she came upon the scent of other birds 
Avhile bringing in the game, she would point and 
stand staunch with the dead one in her mouth, 
or even with a winged one that was fluttering. 
It is thought by some that a dog ought not to 
do this. I know that very few will do it with 
the winged bird, but I like it. 

Fanny would work from daybreak until dark, 
and willingly. I shot over her seven seasons, and 
never knew her to " refuse " but twice, and on one 
of these occasions it was my fault, not hers. 
I killed thousands of birds over her, and broke 
many young dogs in her company. As a re- 
triever of water-fowl I never saw her equal. 
She would cheerfully go in and bring ducks out 
of the water when ice froze in her hair as soon 
as she landed. It was in such weather that I 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING- AND BREAKING. 283 

fell into a great error, and caused her to refuse 
her work one time. 

One very cold day I was shooting ducks on 
Salt Creek, and creeping up got a shot at a flock 
of mallards sitting on the water. It was a very 
large flock. One barrel was fired while they were 
on the water, the other as they rose. Eight were 
killed and five others winged. Fanny retrieved 
the dead ones, while the wounded swam to the 
other side of the creek and hid on the bank. She 
went to the other side, but the ice had now formed 
in her coat, and, being very cold, she sat down. I 
called her over to me and corrected her, after which • 
she crossed and recrossed three times, and brought 
three more. She then wanted to give it up, and I 
had half a mind to let her do so ; but there were 
two more ducks wounded, and if not brought they 
would die of slow starvation, so I required her to 
fetch them, which she did. It was a very hard 
task in such cold weather, and 1 was sorry to 
punish her ; but it shows what this sort of dog can 
do when an emergency requires much strength and 
endurance. She was a very sagacious and affec- 
tionate bitch, and a great favorite in the house at ' 
home. 

It is not good for a dog to be long in the water 



284 FIELD SHOOTING. 

in very cold weather. Fetching out one or two 
, ducks does no harm, and good ones like it ; but to 
be long in the water at such times is very try- 
ing. I never afterwards suffered Fanny to do 
more in that line than she could perform without 
injury. 

Sometimes when going pinnated-grouse shoot- 
ing, and passing along in my wagon early in the 
morning, I would have a chance to shoot one. 
On these occasions she would jump out, retrieve 
it, and jump back into the wagon with the bird 
in her mouth. If I drove for grouse in ploughed 
. land or in grass-fields that had been mowed, 
with Fanny in the back of the wagon, she 
would, on seeing the birds, point from the wagon, 
and maintain her point all the while as I drove 
on to get within shot. One time, when going out 
for grouse to the Delavan Prairie, Fanny went 
into a corn-field at the edge of the timber, and 
I, paying no attention, drove on. Finding that 
she was not following, I pulled up, after having ( 
gone a considerable distance, and whistled for her. 
She stayed a long time, but came at last, bring- 
• ing with her a wild turkey three parts grown. 
1 had recently had her out when turkey-shoot- 
ing, and she was the best dog I ever saw to 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 285 

point a "wild turkey. I heave no doubt she stood 
at that turkey a long time, and only went in to 
catch it herself when called off. She could soon 
understand what I was after. If rabbit-shooting, 
she would stand and retrieve them, and, if not, 
she would not notice them. 

Once, shooting pinnated grouse when . they were 
wild, I found there was a flock on a fence two or 
three hundred yards off. I had a muzzle-loader, 
and hanging my shot-belt and powder-flask on the 
fence, I crawled up so as to be within shot when 
the grouse flew. I killed one, and winged another 
with the second barrel. In retrieving the wounded 
one Fanny winded a bevy of quail, and stood hard 
with the winged grouse fluttering in her mouth. 
The quail were twenty yards off from her in some 
corn, but nevertheless she stood hard and fast with 
the grouse fluttering in her mouth, while 1 went bad: 
two hundred yards for the powder and shot, loaded, 
and returned. I then took the grouse from her, 
whereupon she flushed the quail, and I killed a 
brace. This was one of the greatest things I have 
ever known a dog to do. The grouse was alive 
and fluttering; with a dead bird in her mouth the 
performance would not have been so very remarka- 
ble. 



28(3 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Fanny knew no fancy tricks, and would not 
fetch and carry out of the field. I have never 
taught my dogs out of the field. In the field no 
dog ever beat her. Her quick perception and 
sense were extraordinary. She seemed to under- 
stand what was wanted. If ducks in a pond were 
to be crawled up to, she would lie down as I 
started, and stay there until she heard the crack 
of the gun. If I laid anything down and told her 
to watch it, she always remained until I returned. 
If I had stayed away all day, or two days for that 
matter, she would not have left her post. 

I have known dogs that could not be called 
off a point; but they were those which had been 
broken not to flush their game, leaving that to 
the shooter. An English gentleman came to Elk- 
hart from St. Louis, with whom I went shooting 
nearly every day during his visit. He had a pair 
of splendid pointers, as fine as I ever saw — large, 
strong dogs with long heads. One of them was 
black, the other red. AY hen the black dog would 
get on a point in corn, he would not leave it 
until either his master or some other man flushed 
the birds. The consequence was that we often 
had to go in and find him, and I have fre- 
quently been half an hour in searching for him. 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 287 

That style of breaking may suit England well 
enough — no doubt it does ; but in the prairie States 
it does not answer the purpose. The red dog was 
not so obstinately staunch. After standing his 
birds a good while he would flush them himself, 
and then come in sight of us. One day I was 
prevented from shooting, and the gentleman came 
back at night without the black dog. He had 
lost him at dusk in a piece of prairie where the 
grass was tall. I saw the gentleman that night, 
and told him my opinion was that his pointer 
was in that piece of prairie, standing birds. At 
break of day the sportsman went out to the 
place, and there he found the dog, not standing 
up on his point — he was too tired for that — but 
sitting on his haunches. The grouse still lay to 
him, and the gentleman flushed it and shot it. 
This was his report to me. I saw him come in 
the previous night without the black dog, I saw 
him bring him home in the next forenoon, and I 
have no reason to doubt his veracity. 

My famous Fanny died at work, as I may say. 
I was out with her one afternoon when there 
was good shooting, and finding that she did 
not want to continue at work, I put her into my 
wagon, and drove home. She did not appear to 



288 FIELD SHOOTING. 

be in pain; but as she had been in apparent good 
health in the morning, and had hunted with alacrity 
all the forenoon, I did not know what to make of 
it. She seemed to lose her strength, and yet I 
could not see any signs of her having been bitten 
by a poisonous snake or the like. In fact, I did 
not believe that she was seriously ill, and, having 
made up her bed nicely, I concluded she would be 
better in the morning. But that night she died, at 
nine o'clock. Fifteen minutes before her death she 
got up on her legs and looked at me very ear- 
nestly, as though she wanted to make me under- 
stand something. She then lay down again, and 
in fifteen minutes died easily. I had never left 
her after I brought her home, and her death was 
the cause of much grief in the family. It was al- 
most as if we had lost one of the children. I do 
not know what her ailment was, but believe that 
she had an internal abscess, the bursting of which 
caused her death. 

The best age to begin the breaking of a dog is 
about a year, in my judgment. At eight or nine 
months old it is well enough to take a puppy 
out to the field in a wagon, and let it work a 
little with an old dog. Care must be taken that 
young ones do not work much in the hot sun, 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 289 

for if they do thcro is an end to all reasonable 
hopes of their usefulness. They are spoiled for 
ever. What they are taught about a house or a 
yard is merely mechanical, in my opinion, and of 
very little service afterwards in the field. The 
field, where there are birds, is the place to break 
dogs, and puppies are too playful and too soft for 
the real breaking. At about a year old the dog 
is of an age to understand what is wanted of him 
in a short time, and also fit to endure the correc- 
tion which will be required to make him avoid 
faults. It is better to begin with the young one 
in company with an old, staunch dog, as young 
dogs are imitative. 

Some come to a point the first time they get 
on birds, but some do not, although their power 
of scenting may be very good. Some, when the 
old one points, run in, flush the birds, and then 
chase them. Many men think this grievous, but 
I invariably look upon it as a sign that the dog 
will make a good one, if properly handled and 
treated. Eagerness in the young dog "indicates 
that the hunting instinct is strong, and then it only 
remains necessary to develop and govern it in 
the proper way. Some young dogs point larks 
and other little birds, and some men abhor this, 



290 FIELD SHOOTING. 

but I like it. It indicates a good nose and the 
instinct to stand at point when the dog finds, and 
these are two of the main qualities upon "which 
the future excellence of the youngster will depend. 
The best dogs I have ever had would point little 
birds around our house when puppies. The in- 
stinct of a young, unbroken dog does not instruct 
him as to what is game and what is not. They 
learn that in breaking and in after-use. 

When a young dog runs in eagerly, there is no 
need to be h.arsh with him at first. It will be 
very easy to break him of that, and to make him 
comprehend that he is not to repeat it. My plan 
is to get young dogs eager after game, and then 
instruct them as to the method by which it is to 
be pursued and killed. Therefore I let them run 
in and chase a few times. The worst dogs to 
break are timid ones, which do not take much 
notice of birds, and are easily cowed. With these 
the utmost care and patience are required. With 
eager dogrs after a little while I endeavor to make 
them understand that they are not to run in when 
the old dog points, but to back him. If they run 
in, then 1 whip them a little. If they persist in 
doing so after that correction, I take another 
method. Severe whipping does not answer the 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 201 

purpose for which it is intended. After being 
whipped once, the dog runs off when he finds he 
is likely to be whipped again. By the time he 
is caught and whipped again he has forgotten all 
about the original fault. Now, there is an effec- 
tual way to punish a fault at almost the moment 
of its commission, and thus to cure him of it 
without half the punishment of severe whipping. 

I load one barrel with very small shot, No. 10. 
"When the dog has had one or two warnings, and 
rushes in again as the old dog stands at point, I 
call " steady " in a loud, authoritative tone of 
voice. Then if he keeps on, flushes the birds, 
and chases them, I just give him some of the 
No. 10 on the quarters. He will be at a good 
distance off, and the small shot will sting him 
sharply through his hair, but will not penetrate 
his tough skin. The dog knows in a moment what 
this is for. One lesson is generally enough, and 
the second is always effectual. A man might 
almost flay the hide off of some bold, headstrong 
dog with whips without breaking the dog to 
good purpose. My method obviates the necessity 
for a great deal of punishment with the whip, and 
is not really severe. A dog, however, should 
never be shot at with larger shot than No. 10, 



292 FIELD SHOOTING. 

and never when he is not at the very least forty 
yards from the gun. 

If a timid dog runs in and chases birds after 
they are flushed, let him do so for days without 
whipping him or shooting at him. The thing 
for him is encouragement to pursue game in any 
manner at first ; and if he is whipped, he slinks 
"behind his master's heels. Therefore his con- 
fidence must be increased and his instinct to 
hunt somewhat developed before he is taken in 
hand for his faults. On the other hand, the 
bold, headstrong dog, not easily cowed, may be 
quickly brought to terms. I do not teach my 
dogs to drop to shot, or down-charge, but I 
educate them to stand where they are when the 
gun is fired until told to go on. I can see no 
use in their dropping. The man remains stand- 
ing, why not the dog? And besides, in hot 
weather, where the grass is long and the weeds 
tall and thick, it is injurious to the dog to lie 
down, because he gets less air than he does on 
his legs. I think dropping to shot and down- 
charging better dispensed with in these days of 
breech-loaders; still, I do not mean to set up as 
an authority on dog-breaking — I simply give the 
results of my own experience and observations. 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 29'j 

One of the best dogs I ever owned was a red 
setter, named Jack, a large, strong, npheaded 
dog. I bred him myself, and sold him when a 
pup to a butcher. With plenty to cat and no- 
thing to do he grew up big, and was always 
fat. - The butcher had him until he was two 
years old, and thought a good deal of him, 
though he never used him in the field or any- 
where else, except as a watch-dog and to follow 
his meat-wagon. The butcher died when Jack 
was two years old, and I bought him of the 
widow. He was entirely unbroken when I took 
him out with a steady old dog. The latter got 
a point, and thereupon Jack ran in, flushed the 
birds, and chased them. After he had gone 
forty or fifty yards I hallooed at him, but he 
did not notice it. I. knew what he would do, 
as his parents were both high-headed, bold-rang- 
ing dogs, and he was given to riotous frolicking 
and full of pluck. I had loaded both barrels of 
my gun expressly for his benefit, and now shot 
at him. The distance was rather long, but he 
was well stung. Nevertheless, he did not mind 
it, and kept on. Thereupon I let him have the 
other barrel, upon which he came back. At the 
next point at pinnated grouse in prairie-grass 



294 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Jack ran in again. I hallooed, but he kept on, 
and again I shot at him ; then he came back. 
Once again he started to run in, but upon my 
hallooing " Steady ! " he halted, and backed the 
point of the old dog. This "was the first point 
he ever made in his life, and he hardly knew 
whether it was right or not. I went up and 
petted him, upon which he give indications that 
he understood what he was wanted to do. From 
that out he backed the old dog well. He was a 
little eager afterwards, but upon the whole 1 
consider him to have been the easiest-broken 
dog that I ever handled. 

He took to retrieving, and was a rare good one 
at it; in duck-shooting, one of the best I ever 
had. In retrieving ducks he went at a gallop, 
swam as fast as he could, and brought in the 
dead at his best pace. There was no loafing 
about or slow walking with the duck in his 
mouth in his way of doing the work. A slow 
retriever fov ducks is not good. While he is 
fooling about a flock or two of ducks, seeing 
him, sheer off, and the shooter loses chances 
which he might improve. When retrieving grouse 
or quail, Jack would point live birds with a 
dead one in his mouth. He was very eager to 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. \M>5 

have the gun kill, and at length appeared to 
think that I must have killed something every 
time I fired a shot. This uncommon eagerness 
and resolution of his gave rise to a ludicrous 
incident. 

I was going with another man to shoot grouse 
late in the fall, and we had Jack and two other 
dogs in the wagon. A flock of brant were upon 
the prairie, and though they rose far off, we fired, 
but did not kill. Jack jumped out, and seemed 
to think it impossible that there was nothing killed 
or wounded. About that part of the prairie there 
were some poor, lean sheep suffering from foot-rot. 
Upon one of the smallest of these little sheep 
Jack seized, and began hauling it towards the wagon. 
I thought my partner would almost die of laugh- 
ing. I made Jack leave the sheep and come into 
the wagon again. 

I afterwards sold this dog to Benjamin 
McQueston, a gentleman who then lived at Spring- 
field, Illinois, but who now lives somewhere in 
Kansas, where he still has Jack. I ought not to 
have parted with the dog, but Mr. McQueston 
was very anxious to get him, and paid a good 
price, for our part of the country. The way of 
it was this : Four of us, including the gentleman 



296 FIELD SHOOTING. 

mentioned, had been out shopting, and were re- 
turning along the road with a wagon and team. 
Jack had performed a good day's work, but was 
still full of spirit and vigor, anxious to hunt. 
As we drove along, he jumped on a rail-fence to 
leap down into the field on the other side, and 
right there he winded a bevy of quail. With 
his fore-feet on the top rail and his hind ones 
on the second Jack came to a dead point, and 
made as pretty a one as was possible in the 
position. Thereupon Mr. McQueston resolved to 
have him, if I could be prevailed upon to sell. 
There is not a dog in the country 1 would prefer 
to Jack to breed from. 

The best dog I have now is Dick, eight 
years old and cross-bred, being the produce of a 
setter-bitch and a pointer-dog. His color is red, 
and he takes after the setter, but has thicker 
and shorter hair. He is a capital worker, and 
an excellent dog for finding game. I did not 
breed him myself, but I broke him, he being two 
years old when I got him. He had been used 
in the field a little, but was worse than if he had 
never been out at all. I found -him a high-headed, 
eager, headstrong dog, such as I always think 
will make a good one. I brought him into the 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 297 

proper way of working by stinging him v\ T ith 
shot once or twice when he was going on wrong. 
lie is now an excellent dog. I do not teach my 
dogs to retrieve, but let them take it up of their 
own accord from seeing my old dogs do it. 
About half learn to retrieve in that way. They 
could all be taught to do so easily enough. 

The most thorough dog-breaker 1 know is Miles 
Johnson, of Yardville, New Jersey. He has a 
capital place to keep dogs, and is a perfect master of 
the art of breaking them, retrieving, and everything 
else which may be thought desirable. I recently 
saw at his place a liver and white setter which 
he has broken to do almost anything. This is the 
most perfectly-educated sporting dog I ever saw; 
and if gentlemen want their dogs educated in this 
way, Johnson is the man to do it. 

My method is very serviceable, and includes 
all that I deem essential, but many would want 
more to be done with them. There is one thing 
sportsmen should always persevere in, and that 
is, making the dog perform what lie undertakes 
to make him do. I never let a dog evade doing 
what 1 have set out to make him do. Your dogs 
must be made to understand clearly that you are 
the master, and that your will i ; to rule their in- 



298 FIELD SIIOOTIXtt. 

clinations. When Fanny was young and a pretty 
good dog, retrieving grouse very nicely, on one 
hot morning she refused to find and bring in a 
grouse I had shot. She ran for the corn, where- 
upon I fired over her and stung her with two or 
three straggling shot. She kept on, however, and 
bolted for home, some four miles distant. I knew 
that would never do, and, jumping into my buggy, 
I drove off and got there before she did. When 
she came jogging on, she seemed astounded at see- 
ing me there. I gave her a few cuts with the 
whip, and took her back to the place where she 
had misbehaved, upon which she found the dead 
bird, and brought it in. If I had passed that over, 
she w T ould have gone off again on some day when 
she was more inclined for rest than work. When 
a dog runs off instead of doing what he is required 
to do, bring him back to the same place, no mat- 
ter at what trouble, and compel him to perform it. 
If young sportsmen neglect this, and go on their 
way rather than lose a little time, their dogs will 
find it Out, and do pretty much as they like. It is 
this which causes many dogs which have really 
been well broken to turn out to be rascals in 
their, owners' hands. 

Cross-bred dogs are seldom good beyond the 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 299 

first cross, though some bred from mine and the 
Scotch sheep-dog have turned out very well. But 
the sheep-dog has a fine nose and amazing sagacity, 
with a grand capacity to receive education and 
retain its fruits. 

The first dogs I shot over were cocking-spaniels, 
and I do not believe they had any breaking at all. 
I recently visited the neighborhood in which 1 
learned to shoot on the wing, and the fine farm 
of Mr. Jeremiah Rundell, at Stockport, on the 
Hudson River, over which I used to shoot. With 
him and his family I ate some splendid apples, 
the produce of an orchard whose trees I helped 
to plant eighteen years ago. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



PIGEON-SHOOTKTG. 



I begast to shoot pigeons in 1868, when I had 
been a field-shot for more than eighteen years. 1 
had often been invited to go and witness contests 
of the kind, but cared nothing for them, and up 
to 1868 had never seen a pigeon-trap. The first 
public pigeon-shooting into which I entered was 
a series of sweepstakes at St. Louis. I had some 
success; so much, in fact, that R. M. Patchen, 
who was with me, forthwith made a match, in 
which I was to shoot against Gough Stanton of 
Detroit for $200 a side. Expenses were to be 
paid to whomever travelled to the other, and he 
came to Elkhart. The match was fifty birds each. 
He brought with him a plunge trap, the first I 
had ever seen of that character. However, I con- 
sented to the use of it, and won by killing forty- 
six to his forty. I was then just about as good 
a shot at pigeons as I am now, except that I was 
anxious about the money, and sometimes missed 
owing to that. 



200 




Tli8 Champion MedaL 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 301 

I next shot against Abraham Kleinman. John 
Thomson, a stockman of Elkhart, made the match 
on my part. It was for $200 a side, fifty birds 
each from a spring-trap. There was a dispute 
about the quantity of shot to be used, he con- 
tending that it was to be limited to an ounce. 
We made a sort of compromise, by which I was 
to pull my own trap, while he was allowed a 
man to pull for him. The match was trap and 
handle for each other. He had an old trapper 
named Farnsworth to do this on his part, while 
my man, as afterwards appeared, did not know 
an old bird from a young one. Before we began 
I offered to bet that I killed forty-six out of 
fifty. This wager was eagerly accepted by 
Farnsworth, who wanted to bet a larger sum 
on the point. Kleinman killed forty-nine and 
I killed forty-six. I told Kleinman that I 
could and would beat him before long, and went 
home to practise in the field. I challenged him 
for the championship of Illinois, and we shot 
for $200 a side, at fifty single birds and twenty- 
five pairs of double birds each — the single 
birds ground-trap, the doubles plunge-traps. Of 
the single birds 1 killed forty-three to Klein- 
man's forty-two. At the doubles we killed forty- 



302 TRAP SHOOTING. 

three each. It was at Chicago in 1868. Soon 
after I shot with another man two or three 
times, and won ; but I shall not mention his 
name in this book, for Sufficient reasons. 

The next match I took up with Abraham 
Kleinman was rather singular in character. It 
was at single and double birds. I was to shoot 
from a buggy at twenty-one yards, the horse 
to be on a trot or run when the trap was 
pulled. Kleinman shot from the ground at twenty- 
five yards. I won it. I afterwards shot two 
other matches on these conditions, one with King 
at Springfield, and one with Henry Conderman 
at Decatur. Of these I lost one, and won the 
other. My shooting from a buggy at plover, 
grouse, and geese had made me very quick and 
effective. 

In the spring of 1869 R. M. Patchen made 
a match, in which I was backed to kill five Jiun- 
dred pigeons in six hundred and forty-five min- 
utes, with one gun, at Chicago. 1 was to load 
my own gun, and the stakes were $1,000 a side. 
There were heavy outside bets that I could not 
do it. I won the match, however, in eight hours 
forty-eight minutes, and thus had one hour fifty-seven 
minutes to spare. In the third hundred pigeons 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 803 

1 killed seventy-five in consecutive shots. In the 
last one hundred and five birds I scored one 
hundred ; and in the seventh hour killed ninety- 
five. I shot with a muzzle-loader. It was twenty- 
one yards rise and fifty bounds. Before this 
match came off I had, in practice, killed five 
hundred birds in five hours and seven minutes; 
but then I used two guns, and had a man 
to clean them, though I loaded them myself. 
I missed thirty-four out of the whole number 
shot at. 

I was next matched to kill a hundred consecu- 
tive birds at Chicago in July, 1869; $1,000 to 
$100 that I could not do it, and three matches to 
be shot if I failed in the first and second. In 
the first I had killed thirty when the lock of 
my gun broke, and being obliged to borrow one 
which was a poor article, I lost. On the 21st of 
the month I tried it again, and won. At De- 
troit in the same season I undertook to kill 
forty birds in forty minutes, to load my own 
gun, and gather my own birds. I killed fifty- 
three in twenty minutes forty seconds, and won. 
In the fall of 1SG9 I shot a match for $1,000 
a side against King at Chicago. It was fifty 
single birds and fifty pairs of double birds, mak- 



304 TRAP SHOOTING. 

ing one hundred and fifty each, plunge-traps, 
twenty-one yards rise. I killed all my single 
birds. Mr. King killed forty-one of his. I killed 
eighty-five of my double birds, Mr. King seventy- 
five of his. 

. I shot and won a great many matches which 
I need not mention here. In 1870, Mr. Nathan 
Doxie challenged any man in Illinois to go to 
his place and shoot against him for $100 at 
twenty-five birds. 1 went there and killed twen- 
ty-two to his twenty-one. At the Chicago tourna- 
ment I killed ten straight at twenty-one yards, 
as did several others. Under the conditions we 
went back to twenty-six yards to shoot the ties 
off at five birds each. Mr. G. K. Fayette, of 
Toledo, Ohio, and I tied four times more at this 
distance, killing all our birds. I then killed five 
more, making twenty-five consecutive birds at 
twenty-six yards. Mr. Fayette killed four of his 
last five, but missed the fifth, so I won. Later 
on I shot against Mr. J. J. Kleinman, of Chicago, 
at five traps, fifty birds, mine at twenty-eight 
yards rise, his at twenty-five. I won, and in the 
course of the match killed thirty-three consecu- 
tive birds. 

At Detroit, in the fall of 1870, I shot my 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 305 

first match with Ira Paine, of New York, for 
$500 a side. It was a hundred birds each, twen- 
ty-one yards rise, eighty bounds, half from ground- 
traps, half from plunge- traps. We shot from the 
ground-traps first. When we had each shot at 
seventy birds, I was seven ahead, and night was 
coming on, so Paine gave it up. At that time 
he held the champion badge, and exhibited it to us 
at Detroit, whereupon Doxie told him to make 
much of it, for that I would go to New York to 
shoot for it and bring it away. 1 soon after 
challenged for it, and on the twenty-fifth of 
January, 1871, we shot for it at the house and 
grounds formerly kept by Hiram Woodruff, on 
Long Island. Paine killed eighty-eight birds to 
my eighty-five, and retained the badge. I used a 
breech-loader in that match. We then agreed to 
shoot at one hundred birds each, ground-traps, 
for six consecutive days, the stake each day $500, 
and either party refusing to go on to the end 
of the sixth match to forfeit $100. On the first 
day I killed eighty to Paine's sixty-two, and then 
he paid forfeit rather than go on ; but he backed 
John Taylor against me at fifteen single birds 
and ten pairs of double birds, twenty-one yards 
rise, one ounce of shot. I killed fourteen of the 



306 TRAP SHOOTING. 

single birds; Mr. Taylor killed nine. 1 shot at 
eight pairs of double birds, and killed twelve j 
he at nine pairs, and killed ten, and then gave 
up. . 

On that same visit to New York 1 was backed 
to kill forty -five out of fifty, with leave to place 
the trap as 1 pleased. The arrangement of the 
trap was objected to by Mr. Robinson's umpire, 
because it was so contrived that it would open 
towards the shooter first. The referee decided 
that the trap could not be so placed, and I 
turned the trap and missed six out of ten, 
and lost. Thereupon Mr. De Forrest offered to 
bet $250 that 1 could not kill forty-five out of 
fifty, and fix the trap my own way. It was not 
a bad bet on his part, for the difference in the 
mode of fixing the ground-trap is not a great 
advantage to the shooter, and Mr. Robinson had 
brought clipping-birds for me to shoot at. How- 
ever, I scored forty-six, and won. 

At Lincoln, Illinois, I shot against Abraham 
Kleinman at one hundred birds each, one ounce 
of shot, and each of us killed eighty-eight. We 
had not birds there to shoot the tie off, so we 
adjourned to meet at Chicago, where he killed 
ninety-one and I killed ninety, losing by one bird. 



l'IGEON-SHOOTING. 307 

"With Ira Paine I have shot ten matches and won 
eight. 

One other match I shall mention here because 
of its novelty. At Chicago I shot against four 
of the best marksmen in Illinois. The gentlemen 
opposed to me were Abraham Kleinman, Abner 
Price, D. T. Elston, and Benjamin Burton. They 
were selected to shoot in company at fifty birds 
each, all they scored to form an aggregate, while 
I was to shoot at two hundred birds. I won the 
match by killing one hundred and seventy-eight 
birds, while the four who contested it with me 
shot exceedingly well themselves by scoring one 
hundred and seventy-six. 

It is proper that I should give here a few 
hints to the members of new shooting-clubs, and 
to some of those who belong to older institu- 
tions, in order that they may not be placed 
under disadvantages when they enter upon con- 
tests of a public nature. Since I began to shoot 
pigeons I have travelled a great deal, shot a 
great deal, and observed the performances of 
all sorts of men. The one great thing for new 
clubs to observe is this : that in their shooting 
at home, whether for practice or in contests 
with each other, they should follow the rules 



308 TRAP SHOOTING. 

of pigeon-shooting, and not go on under loose, 
lax methods. It is essential that the rule as to 
holding the gun should be habitually complied 
with — that is, the butt must be kept below the 
elbow of the shooter until the bird is on the 
wing. It is just as easy to conform to this 
rule as not, provided it is done habitually and 
constantly, and it will save a great deal of 
trouble when public matches or sweepstakes are 
engaged in. If it is not regarded at home in their 
own clubs, the shooters will be certain to have birds 
decided lost which they have killed, when shoot- 
ing elsewhere, by reason of breach of this rule. 
"When several men are shooting at home, that 
is the place to learn to shoot according to the 
rules. If they are disregarded, the club and its 
chosen marksmen will pay the penalty of their 
neglect another day, when there will be a smart 
to it. 

Therefore I say it is better for members of 
these clubs to pay for a few birds at home, by 
enforcement of the rules, than to be beaten 
elsewhere through having dead birds challenged 
for improper holding of the gun. I have acted 
as referee many times, and have seen numbers 
of birds killed in such a manner that if an 



P1GE0X-SII00TING. 309 

appeal had been made, I should have been com- 
pelled to decide against the shooters for having 
brought up the gun to the shoulder too soon. 
It is better to get used to holding the gun 
well down. When the habit is formed, a man 
can shoot as well that way as the other, and then 
he will not be bothered and confused by being 
challenged under the rule in a strange place. 
Conform to the rules at home, and it will be 
easy to observe them abroad. Shooters need not 
suppose that they will not be enforced in other 
places because they have been accustomed to 
disregard them at home. 

When I first commenced pigeon-shooting, I 
lost a match in consequence of having two birds 
decided against me for holding the gun above 
the elbow before the pigeons flew. Since then 
I have always been careful to hold the gun 
well down, in practice as well as in matches 
and sweepstakes. Another thing to be noted is 
this : in club-shooting, where eight or ten of the 
members contend, the birds should be assorted — 
the old ones put into one basket and the young 
ones into another; and then they should be ap- 
portioned to the shooters equally. When the 
old <>ncs and the voim^ are all mixed up. there 



olO TRAP SHOOTING. 

is an element of chance brought in. One man may 
happen to get nearly all fast, driving birds, and 
another all slow, easy ones. Now, that is not 
the way to find out the best shooters. The 
more the element of chance is admitted, the less 
likely skill with the gun is to win. A fast, 
driving bird is killed, but gets out of bounds. 
A slow one is not hit half as well, but drops 
inside, and is scored. But the man who lost 
his bird really made the best shot. 

Tf I had to make rules to govern pigeon- 
shooting, I should establish a new principle by 
sweeping away an old but mischievous rule. I 
would adopt the Prairie Club rules of twenty-one 
yards rise for single birds, and eighteen for double 
birds ; but I would do away the boundary limit 
altogether. If the shooter recovered his bird 
within three minutes, he should count it, subject, 
of course, to the rules as to mode of recovery. 
When a man makes a splendid shot at a fast, 
driving bird, and it falls dead just out of bounds, it 
is decided against him by the arbitrary nature of 
the rule merely, and not by the principles of rea- 
son and sense. I have no individual interest to 
promote by suggesting this change. I find my- 
self excluded from about nine out of every ten 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 311 

public contests by reason of my alleged superi- 
ority, and really see but little or nothing left for 
me to do save defend the championship. 

Therefore what I advance is prompted solely 
by considerations for the sport, for the benefit of 
the clubs, and for the advancement and reward 
of real skill. There is no other way of absolutely 
determining which man is the best shot on the 
day of the contest. I have often killed birds 
which fell just out of bounds, riddled through and 
through with shot, and 1 have seen other men do 
the same. Birds hit like this, with seven or 
eight shot in each, were lost by a few feet, some- 
times by a few inches, and I contend that this 
tape-line rule is against sense, and productive of 
mischief. I have seen hundreds of birds lost under 
the operation of it which were as well hit as any 
birds could be, so far as the skill of the marks- 
man can go. On the other hand, 1 have seen 
easy, slow-going birds, just hit with one or two 
pellets in the wing, recovered amongst much clap- 
ping of hands and shouting by those who thought 
they were applauding marksmanship. 

Recently the Buffalo gentlemen, in shooting for 
the Dean Richmond Cup, had their chance jeopard- 
ed at one time through three of Mr. NeweH's 



812 TRAP SHOOTING. 

birds, fast, driving ones, falling out of bounds, 
though hit clean and Well. And in my opinion 
he made as good shots at them as at any that 
he scored, if not better. Every pigeon-shooter of 
large experience knows that matches are some- 
times lost by the man "who shoots best, because 
of his hard luck in having birds fall dead just 
out of bounds. Now, there ought to be as little 
chance for luck in contests of this nature as 
may be possible to contrive. 

I have many times killed every bird I shot at, but 
some fell out of bounds. Now, if shooting is the 
thing to be tested, 1 had as much right to these, 
which were killed by the gun, as to those which 
fell inside. At Omaha, last June, I shot at fifty 
birds, twenty singles and fifteen pairs of doubles. 
I killed all the single birds, but lost one by rea- 
son of its falling a little out of bounds. I scored 
alt the double birds, thus making forty-nine out 
of fifty, and if it had not been for the senseless, 
arbitrary rule in question, 1 should have scored 
all the fifty. 

The fair way to shoot pigeons, whether in clubs, 
matches, or sweepstakes, is from H and T traps, no 
matter whether ground, plunge, or spring traps. 
In matches, the birds being in the traps, and the 



PIQEOX-SHOOTING. 313 

shooter ready, the referee tosses up a coin. If 
it comes head, the shooter takes the H trap and 
his opponent the other. If it comes tail, the 
effect is the reverse. In club-shooting and in 
sweepstakes as many wads are numbered as there 
are shooters. The referee places these in his 
pocket, and after shaking them up pulls one out. 
The man whose number on the list corresponds 
to the number on the wad takes the bird in the 
trap. That wad is then transferred to the other 
pocket. After the shot another wad is drawn, and 
so on until all have shot, when the wads will all 
be in one pocket, and the same thing is to be 
done until the shooting is at an end. By this 
means all trickery and favoritism in selecting 
birds for certain of the shooters is made impossible. 
I shall now append the scores of the nine 
championship matches by which the possession of 
the badge has been determined. The rules under 
which it was held and shot for will be given here- 
after. It was required to be held for two years 
against all comers before it became the property 
of the holder. I have held it over three years 
now, having put it up again last spring, when John 
J. Kleinman shot against me for it at Joliet. 
Illinois. 



314 TRAP SHOOTING. 

It was first shot for at Mark Rock, Rhode 
Island, at thirty -five birds each ; entries : Miles L. 
Johnson of New Jersey, Edward Tinker of Rhode 
Island, Perry Aldridge of Rhode Island, Ira A. 
Paine of New York, J. R. Brown of Buffalo, and 
John Taylor of New Jersey. It came off April 7, 
1870, and was won by Johnson, the score being as 
follows : 

Johnson— 1 1011111110111111111011111 
11111111 1—32. 

Taylor— 1100111111101111110111111 
11111111 1—30. 

Tinker— 11111011101111111011010111 
11111111 1—30. 

Paine— 1 11110011011011110110111111 

111111 1—28. 

Brown— 1 1101111111110111111000110 
01111011 1—27. 

Aldridge— 1 111101110101001111111111 
110111011 0—27. 

Paine challenged Johnson, the holder of the 
badge, and they shot at one hundred birds at 
Fleetwood Park, New York, September 28, 1870. 
Paine won as follows : 

Paine— 1 11111111011111110110001111 
111111110111111011111111110111111 
011111111101111101111101111111101 

1 1011 1—85. 



pig e< > nt-shooting . ."j 1 5 

Johnson— 1 101001111111100100001111 
111111010001110110111111111111110 
000111111111111101111110111111111 
111110 11 0—77. 

Tinker challenged Paine, and they shot at Fleet- 
wood Park, October 29, 1870. Paine won as fol- 
lows : 

Paine— 1 11111101111111111111100111 
111111111111111111111111100111110 
110110111111101101111011101110111 
11110 1 1— 8G. 

Tinker— 1 1011111101111110001101111 
110101010110111111111101111111111 
1111100110 11101111111111011111111 
1101111 0—81. 

A. H. Bogardus of Illinois challenged Paine, 
and they shot at Hiram Woodruff's old place on 
Long Island, January 25, 1871, when Paine won 
as follows : 

Paine— 1 111111 '110 11 111011111111111 
1111111111111111111110110011111 11 
111001101011111111111111011011101 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1—88. 

BOGAIIDUS— 1 111111110011111111111101 
111010110111110101110111111111111 
1 110 11011111110111111110111011111 
11111011 1—85. 



316 TRAP SHOOTING. 

Bogardus challenged Paine, and they shot at 
Fleetwood Park, May 23, 1871, when Bogardus 
won as follows (besides, he killed seven which 
fell out of hounds) : 

Bogakdus— 1 111111101111111101111111 
111111111111011111101111011101111 
101111110110011111111111111010111 
10111111 1—87. 

Paine— 1 11011111111111111111111110 
101101111111111110100110111011011 
010111111111111101111111111111011 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1— 86. 

Paine challenged Bogardus, and they shot at 
Dexter Park, Chicago, July 29, 1871. Bogardus 
won as follows : 

Bogahdus— 1 111111110111 i 11111101111 
1 11111111111111110111111111111011 
1 11101101111111111101111111111111 
11101110 1—91. 

Paine— 1 11111111101111111111111011 
111111111101110101101110111111111 
1111111111111001111111111111111 &l 
1110 11 1—89. 

Abraham Kleinman of Illinois challenged Bo- 
gardus, and they shot at Dexter Park, Chicago, 
April 6, 1872, when Bogardus won as follows: 



riGEON-SHOOTIXG. *s± i 

BOGARDUS— 1 111101111111111011111111 
111101111111111111101111111111011 

111111111111101111111111111111111 
11111110 1—93. 

Kledsman — 1 11111111111011111111110 
111111111111111111111111101111111 
111110111110111111011101111111110 
111011011 0—89. 

[These are the official aggregates of the match, 
but not of the details, which could not be ob- 
tained.] 

Abraham Kleinman challenged Bogardus again, 
and they shot at Dexter Park, Chicago, in Sep- 
tember, 1872, when Bogardus won as follows : 

Bogardus— 1 101101111111111011110101 
111101101111111101101011111111001 
111111111111111111111111111010111 
11101111 1—85. 

Kleinman — 1 11111110110111101111011 
111001111111110110 111111111111111 
110111110011111101111111111111110 
111101011 0—81. 

Tinker of Rhode Island challenged Bogardus, 
and they shot May 15, 1873, • at Dexter Park, 
Chicago, where Bogardus won as follows : 



318 TRAP SHOOTlNd. 

BOGARDTJS— 1 110111011110111111111111 

111111111111111111111111101111101 
111110010111111011111110111101111 
01111111 0—87. 

Tinker— 1 1110111111111111111111111 
011111100111111110101111111111011 
111001111111010100111111111110101 
11110 11 1—85. 

Bogardus having now held the badge over two 
years, it became his property. He put it up 
again under the rules which are inserted hereafter. 
John J. Kleinman, of Chicago, entered to contend 
for it, and Bogardus and he shot at Joliet on 
the twentieth of March, when Bogardus Avon. It 
remains with Bogardus, and will be open to chal- 
lenge up to twentieth of March, 187G. 

The scores of a few of my best matches, other 
than for the championship, are given below, and 
also some of my time matches : 

Bogardus against King at Chicago, Dexter Park, 
1869, single birds, fifty each, and fifty pairs of 
double birds each, $1,000 a side, twenty-one 
yards rise. This was the first match in which 
Bogardus shot with a breech-loader. It was one 
of the best scores he ever made, all at 21 yards. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 319 

SINGLE BIRDS. 
BOGARDUS— 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
111111111111111111 1 11111 1—50 out Of 50. 

King— 1 111111100101111101111100 101 
1111111010111111111 1—41 out of 50. 

DOUBLE BIRDS. 
BOGARDUS— 11 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 10 11 10 11 11 10 

11 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 01 10 11 11 01 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 
11 11 10 11 10 10 10 10 10 11 10 11 11 11—85. 

King— 10 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 10 11 00 10 11 10 11 10 11 
11 11 10 11 10 01 10 11 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 00 00 11 11 
10 10 11 11 11 10 10 00 10 11 11 10 11—75. 

The following is the score of the match against 
time, shot at Dexter Park, Chicago, May 15, 1869, 
in which I undertook fo kill five hundred pigeons 
in ten hours and forty-five minutes with one gun, 
and load my own gun. 1 did it in eight hours 
and forty-eight minutes, with 1J- of shot, ground 

trap. 

First Hundred — 1 11111010Q01111011111 
111101011101110100111110011101111 
11110000101011101001101111011111 
111011111011110100111101111110111 
111110101111011 1—136 shot at ; 36 missed. 

Second Hundred— 1 0111010110110101111 
1 11110101101111111111111011001011 
101111101101110111101101111111110 
111110100101011010001101101011110 
111111110101101110 0—138 shot at ; 38 missed. 



£20 trap shooting. 

Third Hundred— 11010101011010111010 
100111111001111111111111111111111 
111111111111111111111111111111111 
llllil 1111 111111111 10111 11 1—114 shot 
at ; 14 missed. 

Fourth Hundred— 1 1111111101111011111 
110111111111101110101111111110111 
1001110 11111111111111111111111111 
11111011111111111011111111 — 112 shot 
at ; 12 missed. 

Fifth Hundred— 1 11011111111111111110 
111111111111111111111111111111111 
111111111111011111111111111111111 
1 1111110 111111011 1—105 shot at ; 5 missed. 
Time— 8h. 48m. 
Score of the match to kill one hundred birds 
in one hundred successive shots, and load as I 
pleased, shot at Dexter Park, Chicago, July 21, 

1869 : 

111111111111111111111111111111111 
111111111111111111111111111111111 
1111111111111111111111111111111111 

Below will be found the scores of a few exhi- 
bition matches shot by me within a year. 

At Jerseyville, Illinois, 1873, to kill fifty birds 
in eight minutes : 

111111111111111111111011111111111 
11111111111111111111 1—53 out of 54. 
Time of shooting — 4m. 45s. 



riGEOX-SHOOTINO. 3€1 

Captain A. II. Bogardus, match at Paris, Ky., 
April 14, 1874, to kill fifty pigeons in eight min- 
utes : 

11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 11 
11 11 11 11 00 11 11 11 00 11 11 11 10 10 — Killed, 58; 
misses, 10 ; number shot at, 68 ; time of shooting, 7m. 

Match at Stamford, Conn., 1874, to kill thirty- 
eight out of fifty birds, two traps forty yards 
apart, to be pulled at the same time, and the 
shooter to stand between the traps. Ira Paine 
trapped the birds : 

10 11 10 11 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 
11— Killed 38 out of 42. 

Match at Omaha, purse of 8150, same condi- 
tions as at Stamford; shot June 19, 1874: 

11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 11 10 
11 10— Killed 39 out of 44. 

Score made by me on the same day in a sweep- 
stakes : 

Single Birds— 1111111111101111111 1—19 
killed, 1 missed. 

Double Bhids— 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 
11—30 killed. 

Aggregate — 49 out of 50. 



323 TRAP SHOOTING. 

Match at Washington, D. C., July 20, 1874, on 
the grounds of the Shooting Club. Colonel Alex- 
ander pulled the traps, which were forty yards 
apart : 

11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11—29 out of 30. 

In this match at Washington I shot with the 
Orange powder of Laflin & Rand, New York, 
No. 7 Lic;htnin$* and found it strong and clean, 
and better than any I ever used before. I shot 
at one bird full seventy-five yards off, let go by 
an outsider, and killed it dead. It is coarse- 
grained, burns even, does not recoil much, and 
shoots strong. 

CHALLENGES FOR FIELD AND TRAP SHOOTING. 

The following challenges, made by me, and 
published in the sporting papers, were not ac- 
cepted : 

(From the Chicago Tribune.) 
A CHALLENGE. 

I hereby challenge any man in America to 
shoot a pigeon match, fifty single and fifty double 
rises, for from $500 to $5,000 a side, accord- 
ing to the rules of the New York Sportsmen's 
Association ; 1 to use my breech-loading shot-gun, 



riOEON-SIIOOTIXG, 328 

and my opponent to use any breech-loading gun 
of any manufacture he may choose. The match 
to be shot in Chicago. Man and money ready 
at my place of business, No. 72 Madison Street, 
Chicago. A. II. Bogardus. 

Chicago, Sept. 10, 1869. 

CHALLENGE FOB FIELD SHOOTING. 

To the Editor of the Chicago Tribune : 

I hereby challenge any man in America to 
shoot prairie-chickens against me, in the field, 
during the month of November, to shoot for 
one or two weeks, on the same ground, for a 
stake of from $100 to $500 a side. The man 
who kills the most during the time specified to 
take all the game and the stakes. 

A. H. Bogardus. 
Chicago, Sept. 22, 1869. 

challenges for field and pigeon shooting. 

Editors Turf, Field, and Farm : 

I notice in your issue of the 3d inst. an ac- 
ceptance of my challenge, which was issued last 
October. This is the first I have ever seen of 
it, and that time has gone by ; and if Mr. 
Murphy wished to shoot -with mo, ho could 



324 TRAP SHOOTING. 

have easily dropped me a few lines, and I 
would have hunted with him. But all I can 
say now is (to Mr. Murphy or any other man 
living), that I will make a match to shoot in 
the field for two or four weeks next November ; 
the kind of game to be prairie-chickens, the 
hunting to take place on strange ground to both 
parties, and the stakes from $500 to $2,000 a 
side, to hunt through the day-time and sleep at 
night, and not to take any advantage of the 
game ; and also, if the party who accepts this 
challenge choose, that every bird has got to be 
killed on the Wing; and if either party kill 
birds sitting, to count three against him. 

Now, if Mr. Murphy and his friends think 
that I am playing a game at bluff, let them 
send a forfeit to the Turf, Field, and Farm, 
and I will cover it. The match to come off 
in November next in Illinois, Iowa, Minne- 
sota, or Kansas, or any other place where we 
can find plenty of chickens. The man who wins 
to take the proceeds of all chickens shot by 
both parties. Yours very truly, 

A. II. BoGARDUS. 

N.B. — 1 hereby challenge any man in the world 



PIGEON-SIIOOTIXG. 325 

to shoot a match at pigeons, one hundred single 
and fifty double rises, for a stake of SI, 000 to 
8"2,000 a side ; the birds to be put into one 
basket or box, and trap and handle out of 
same lot of birds, or from H and T traps, one or 
one and a half ounce shot. Will give or take 
expenses. A. H. B. 

Elkhart, III., May 8, 1872. 



Hides governing the Badge held by the Cham- 
pion Pigeon- Shooter of America. 

We, the undersigned, contestants for the badge 
of the championship of America, given by the 
Ehode Island Sportsman's Club, do hereby pledge 
ourselves and agree to the following rules and 
regulations, whenever and wherever said badge is 
contested for: 

1. The winner of the badge shall give a satisfactory 
guarantee to the officers of the Rhode Island Sports- 
man's Club for the safety thereof, in the shape of 
a responsible surety. 

2. The winner shall pledge himself to shoot 
any challenger for a sum not less than $500 a 
side, within four months of the date of said 
challenge, under penalty of forfeiting the badge. 



320 THAT ;-:ilOUTlN(;. 

3. An)' party challenging the holder of this 
badge shall make a deposit of $250 as a forfeit 
for a match of $500 a side, in the hands of the 
editor of the Spirit of the Times, to be covered 
by the challenged party with an equal amount. 
The balance of the money, $250 a side, shall 
be deposited in the hands of the said editor of 
the Sjiirit of the Times, or some party ap- 
pointed by him, three days before the match is 
shot ; said match then becoming play or pay. 
In case of the holder not complying with the 
foregoing conditions, he shall forfeit the badge to 
the party challenging. 

4. Every contestant for this match shall pledge 
himself to contend for the same under the rules 
of the Rhode Island Sportsman's Club governing 
pigeon-shooting. 

5. All matches for this badge shall be at one 
hundred single birds each, II and T ground-traps. 

G. In all matches in which this badge is con- 
tested for, the referee shall be an officer in the 
Rhode Island Sportsman's Club, or a party ap- 
proved by them. 

7. The holder of the badge shall name the 
place where the same shall be contested for, 
which shall be also satisfactory to the referee. 



PIQEON-SHOOTING. o*2T 

8. Each contestant in any match for this badge 
shall provide not less than one hundred and ten 
birds for the match, and the birds shall be 
taken out of one contestant's basket or box till 
the same is exhausted, and then the other con- 
testant's basket or box shall be used out of till 
that is exhausted, and so on alternately through 
the match. 

9. Having tossed for first shot and trap, the 
second party shooting shall take the bird in the 
remaining trap, and so on through the match. 

10. The party holding this badge for two 
years against all contestants, it shall become his 
personal property. 



Rules of the Rhode Island Spoilsman's Club for 
Trap Shooting. 

1. Traps, Rise and Bounds. — All matches shall 
be shot from H and T ground-traps, the choice 
of which the referee shall decide by toss. 

The boundaries shall be eighty yards for single 
birds, and one hundred yards for double birds; 
which, in single-bird shooting, shall be measured 
from a point equidistant from, and in a direct 



328 TRAP SHOOTING. 

lino between the two traps ; in double-bird shoot- 
ing, from a point equidistant from, and in direct 
line between, the centre traps. 

2. Placing- the Traps. — In single-bird shooting 
the distance between the traps shall be four yards ; 
in double-bird shooting, as four traps are used, 
the H and T traps shall be set alternately, and 
two yards apart. 

3. Scoring. — After the party is at the score 
.and ready to shoot, he shall take the bird or birds, 
unless barred by the referee. 

The party at the score must not leave it to 
shoot, and must hold the butt of his gun below 
his elbow until the bird or birds rise ; and in case 
of infraction of this provision, the bird or birds 
shall be scored as missed. 

4. Rising of Birds. — All birds must be on the 
wing when shot at; all contingencies of misfire, 
non-explosion of cap, gun not cocked, etc., etc., are 
at the risk of the party shooting. 

5. Recovering Birds. — It shall be optional with 
the party shooting to recover his own birds, or 
appoint a person for that purpose. 

In all cases the birds shall be gathered by 
hand, without the use of extraneous means, within 
three minutes from the time it alights, or be 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 329 

scored a miss. A bird once out of bounds shall 
be scored a miss. 

0. Loading. — The charge of shot shall not ex- 
ceed one ounce and a half. All guns shall be 
loaded from the same charger, except in case 
of breech-loaders, when the referee may open one 
or more cartridges to ascertain if the charge of 
shot is correct. Any party infringing this rule 
shall lose the match. 

7. Ties. — In case of a tie at single birds, the 
distance shall be increased five varcls, and shall 
be shot off at five birds each. In case of a 
second tie, the distance shall be again increased 
five yards, and this distance shall be maintained 
till the match is decided. The ties in double-bird 
shooting shall be shot off at twenty-one yards, with- 
out any increase, at five double rises. 

8. Judges and Referee. — Two judges and a 
referee shall be appointed before the shooting 
commences. The referee's decision shall be final. 
He shall have power to call " No bird," in case 
any birds fail to fly, and may allow a contestant 
another bird, in case the latter shall have been 
balked or interfered with, or may for any reason 
satisfactory to the referee be entitled to it. 

In case of any unnecessary delay on the part 



330 TRAP SHOOTING. 

of either of the contestants, the referee shall or- 
der the party so delaying to the score, and, in 
case of his failing to comply within five minutes, 
said party shall lose the match. 

If a bird should fly towards parties within the 
bounds, in such a manner that to shoot at it would 
endanger any person, another bird will be allowed ; 
and if a bird is shot at by any person besides 
the party at the score, the referee shall decide 
how it shall be scored, or whether a new bird 
shall be allowed. 



Mules governing the Badge held by the Champion 
Pigeon- Shooter of America. 

We, the undersigned, contestants for the Badge 
of the Championship of America, given by Cap- 
tain A. II. Bogardus, do hereby pledge ourselves 
and agree to the following rules and regulations, 
whenever and wherever said badsje is contested 
for: 

1. The winner of the badge shall give a satis- 
factory guarantee to Captain A. II. Bogardus for 
the safety thereof, in the shape of a responsible 
surety. 

2. The winner shall pledge himself to shoot 



PIGEOX-SliOOTlNG. 331 

any challenger, for a sum not less than 8250 a 
side, within two months of the date of said chal- 
lenge, under penalty of forfeiting said badge. 

3. Any party challenging the holder of this 
badge shall make a deposit of $125, as a forfeit 
for a match of $250 a side, in the hands of the 
editor of the Spirit of the Times, to be covered 
by the challenged party with an equal amount. 
The balance of the money, $125 a side, shall be 
deposited in the hands of the editor of the Spirit 
of the Times, or some other party, mutually 
agreed upon by both parties, three days before 
the match is shot ; the match then becomes play 
or pay. In case of the holder not complying 
with the foregoing conditions, he shall forfeit the 
badge to the party challenging. 

4. Every contestant for this badge shall pledge 
himself to contend for the same under the rules 
of the Prairie Shooting Club of Chicago, with the 
exception that the single birds must be shot from 
ground-traps. 

5. All matches for this badge shall be at one 
hundred pigeons, fifty single and twenty -five double 
rises, from IT and T traps — the single from 
ground-traps and the double from plunge-traps. 

(3. The holder of this badge shall name the 



332 TRAP SHOOTING . 

place where the same shall be contested for, and 
each contestant shall furnish one hundred and ten 
pigeons for the match, and the pigeons shall be 
taken out of the same basket or box until the 
same is exhausted, and so on through the match. 

7. Having tossed for first shot and trap, the 
second party shooting shall take the bird or birds 
in the remaining trap or traps, and so on through 
the match. 

8. The party holding this badge for two years 
against all comers, it shall become his personal 
property. 

Entries for the badge will be $50, and the 
winner of the badge to receive half the money, 
and the other half to go to the second best. 
The first match to take place the 20th day of 
March, 1874. 



The National Champion Badge. 

Donated by Louis L. Zorillard, Esq., and In- 
stituted by the " Spirit of the Times." 

The holder of this badge shall leave a re- 
sponsible security in the office of Wilkes's Spirit 
of the Times, for the forthcoming of the same 
whenever called for. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 3o3 

He shall shoot as often as once in three months, 
it' challenged, for not less than $500 a side 
— that is to say, in one week from the time 
of the decision of any match the winner 
0f the badge may be challenged again — and 
he shall shoot within three months from the 
date of the challenge. Tie shall have the naming 
of the place and time of shooting, subject to the 
approval of the editor of the Spirit of the 
Times. 

In all cases he shall cover the money of the 
challenging party within one month, and name 
time and place of shooting, or, in failing to do so. 
shall forfeit the badge to the party challenging. 
Any party holding the badge for two years, it 
shall become his personal property. 

Any party challenging for this badge shall de- 
posit $250 in the hands of the editor of the 
Spirit of the Times as one-half forfeit. All 
the money from both parties to be up in said 
office one week previous to date of shooting, 
when the match becomes play or pay. Either 
party may compel the other to go to the score 
not later than one o'clock p.m. 

The rm tehes for this badge shall be shot ac- 
cording to the English rules, as modified and pub- 



334 TRAP SIlOOTINtt. 

lished below, at fifty single birds each, each party 
to bring not less than seventy birds on the 
ground. 

Either party may trap and handle his quota 
of birds, or furnish a substitute. 

The party commencing to trap shall continue 
until the match is half out, that is to say, until 
twenty-five birds each have been shot at, when 
the opposite party shall commence and trap an 
equal number. It shall be decided by "toss" 
which party commences trapping. 

The referee, in all cases, unless amicably and 
mutually agreed upon, to be appointed by the 
editor of the Spirit of the Times. 

In case of a tie, the parties shall shoot at 
five birds each ; in case of a second, they shall 
shoot at five more, and so on until the match is 
decided, the condition covering trapping to apply 
the same as in the match. 



Rules of the National Championship Badge. 

Rule 1. The gun must not be carried to the 
shoulder until the bird is on the wing. 

Rule 2. A misfire shall be at the risk of 
the shooter. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 335 

Rule 3. If a person pulls the trap without 
notice from the shooter, he has the option to 
take the bird or not. 

Rule 4. If on the trap being pulled the bird 
does not rise, it is at the option of the shooter to 
take it or not; but if not, he must declare it by 
saving " No bird."' 

Rule 5. Each bird must be recovered within 
the boundary, eighty yards, within three minutes, 
if required by any party interested, or it must 
be scored lost. If a bird is challenged to show 
shot-mark, it must be handed to the referee for 
his decision. 

Rule 6. If a bird that has been shot parches 
or settles on the top of the fence or on any of 
the buildings higher than the fence, it is to be 
scored a lost bird. 

Rule 7. Or if a bird perches or settles on 
the top of a fence, or on any of the buildings 
higher than the fence, and then falls dead to the 
ground, it is a lost bird. 

Rule 8. If a bird once out of the grounds 
should return and fall dead within the boundary, 
it must be scored a lost bird. 

Rule 0. If the shooter advances to the trap 
and orders it to be pulled, and docs not shoot 



386 TRAP SHOOTING. 

at the bird, or his gun is not properly loaded, 
or does not go off, the bird is to be scored 
lost. 

Rule 10. Should a bird that has been shot 
be flying away, and a "scout" fires and brings 
the bird down within the boundary, the referee 
may, if satisfied the bird would not have fallen 
by the gun of the shooter, order it to be 
scored a lost bird ; or, if satisfied the bird Mould 
have fallen, may order it to be scored a dead 
bird ; or, if in doubt on the subject, he may order 
the shooter to shoot at another bird. 

Rule 11. A bird shot on the ground with the 
first barrel is " no bird " ; but it may be shot on 
the ground with second barrel if it has been 
fired at with the first barrel while on the 
wing. 

Rule \2. The shooter is bound at any time to 
gather his bird, or depute some person to do so, 
when called on by his opponent; but in so doing 
he must not be assisted by any other person, or 
use any description of implement. Should the 
shooter be any way brUed by his opponent, or 
by any of the party shooting, he can claim another 
bird, with the sanction of the referee. 

Rule 13. Shooting shall be from five traps. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. o-'JT 

If more than one trap is pulled, so that more 
than one bird is on the wins: or at large at the 
same time, the shooter has the option of shoot- 
ing or not ; if he kills, the bird must be 
scored : but should he miss, it shall be a lost 
bird. 

Rule 14. The shooter cannot leave, the shoot- 
ing-mark under any pretence to follow up any 
bird that will not rise, but is walking away from 
the trap after it is pulled ; and, having once left 
the mark after shooting at the bird, cannot re- 
turn to shoot at it again under any circumstan- 
ces. The amount of shot for each barrel shall 
not exceed one ounce and a quarter. Any shooter 
found to have a larger quantity in his gun, or 
who discharges his gun after his load is challeng- 
ed, shall be at once disqualified. The five ground 
traps shall be placed five yards apart, under the 
direction of the referee, thirty yards rise, and the 
use of both barrels is allowed. 

Rule 15. Each shooter shall pull the traps 
for his opponent, or shall nominate a man to do 
so. The puller shall in all cases pull fairly, and 
without delay ; and if the referee shall be satisfied 
that the trap was not pulled fairly, and without 
resort to any kind of baffling device, he shall 



838 TRAP SHOOTING. 

order the bird to be scored for the shooter, 
though not killed within bounds. The trap to be 
pulled to be decided by tossing a die by the 
referee, or by such other means as shall be just 
and satisfactory. 

Rule 16. Each shooter shall come to the 
score on being called by the referee, and each 
may claim an intermission of fifteen minutes once 
during the match. 

Rule 17. The boundary shall be measured from 
the centre of the middle trap. 



Hides of the Prairie Shooting Club of Chicago. 

[As Amended March 10, 1874.] 

Rule 1. Traps, Rise and Boundaries. — All 
matches shall be shot from II and T plunge or 
lever traps, the choice of which the referee shall 
decide by toss. The boundaries shall be eighty 
yards for single birds, and one hundred yards 
for double birds, which shall be measured from a 
point equidistant from, and in a direct line be- 
tween, the two traps, or, when more than two 
traps are used, in a direct line between the centre 
traps. The rise for single birds shall be twenty - 
one yards, and for double birds eighteen yards. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. d#V 

Rule '2. Distance between Traps. — In single- 
bird shooting, the distance between the traps shall 
be live yards ; in double-bird shooting, when four 
traps are used, they shall be two and a half yards 
apart. 

Rule 3. Judges and Referee. — Two judges and 
a referee shall be appointed before the shooting 
commences, and the referee's decision shall be 
final. He may allow a contestant another bird 
in case the latter shall have been balked or inter- 
fered with, if he thinks the party entitled to it. 

Rule 4. Birds and Decision. — If a bird shall 
fly towards parties within the bounds, in such a 
maimer that to shoot at it would endanger any 
person, another bird shall be allowed ; and, if a 
bird is shot at within the bounds by any person 
besides the party at the score, the referee shall 
decide how it shall be scored, or whether another 
bird shall be allowed. 

Rule 5. Position at the Score. — After the 
shooter has taken his stand at the score, he shall 
not level his gun or raise the butt above his elbow 
until the bird is on the wing. Should he infringe 
on this rule, the bird or birds shall be scored as 
lost, whether killed or not. 

Rule 0. Release of Birds. — The shooter, when 



:J40 TRAP SHOOTING. 

ready, to say •• pull," and the puller to obey such 
signal, and pull the trap or traps fairly and 
evenly, and release the bird or birds instanter. 
If the trap be pulled or the birds released before 
the signal is given by the shooter, he shall have 
the option of calling "No bird" and refusing to 
shoot; but if he shoots, the bird shall be deemed 
a fair one, and scored for or against him, as the 
case may be. 

Rule 7. Rise and Call of Birds. — All birds 
must be on the wing when shot at, or will be 
scored as lost birds. If the bird does not rise 
immediately after the trap is pulled, the shooter 
shall have the option of calling " No bird"; and 
if he shoots at it on its afterward rising, it will 
be considered " a lost bird."' 

Rule 8. Gathering JBirds. — It shall be optional 
with the party shooting to gather his own birds 
or appoint a person to do so for him. In all cases 
the bird must be gathered by hand, without any 
forcible means, within three minutes from the 
time it alights, or be scored as lost. All "birds" 
must show shot-marks if challenged. A bird 
once out of bounds shall be scored as lost. 

Rule 9. Misfires. — ■ Should' a gun miss fire 
or fail to discharge from any cause, it shall score 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 341 

as a lost bird, unless the referee finds, upon ex- 
amination, that the gun "was properly loaded, and 
the misfire unavoidable, in which case he shall 
allow another bird. 

Rule 10. Birds on the Wing. — In double 
shooting, both birds must be on the wing when 
the first is shot at. If but one bird flies, and one 
barrel is fired or snapped, the birds shall not be 
scored, whether killed or missed, but the party 
shooting shall have two more birds : or, if both 
birds fly and are killed with one barrel, he must 
shoot at two other birds. 

Rule 11. Size of Gun. — The shooter shall not 
be allowed to use a gun of larger calibre than 
that known as No. 10. 

Rule 12. Charge of Shot. — There shall be no 
restriction as to size of shot used or charge 
of powder, but the charge of shot shall be not 
to exceed the regular Dixon Measure, No. 1106 
or No. 1107, 1|- oz. by measure struck off. 

Rule 13. Penalty for Overloading. — The Club 
shall provide a standard shot measure, and all 
guns shall be loaded from the same, except in 
case of breech-loaders, when the referee may open 
one or more cartridges, to ascertain if the charge 
of shot is not above the standard. Any person 



342 TRAP SHOOTING. 

found infringing on this rule shall be barred from 
further participation in the match. 

Kule 14. Ties and Distances. — In case of ties 
at single birds, the distance shall be increased five 
yards. In case of second tie, the distance shall 
be increased five yards further, and this distance 
sliall be maintained until the match is decided, 
and shall be shot off' at five single birds. The 
ties on double-bird shooting shall be shot off at 
twenty-one yards at five double rises. 

Kule 15. Ties. — At a shooting match, all tics 
shall be shot off on the same grounds immediately 
after the match, if they can be concluded before 
sunset. In case they cannot be concluded by sun- 
set, they shall be concluded on the following day, 
unless otherwise directed by the judges or referee. 
This, however, shall not prevent the ties from 
dividing the prizes, if they may all agree .to do 
so. Should one refuse to divide, then it must 
be shot off. Any one of the ties being absent 
thirty minutes after the time agreed upon to shoot 
them off shall forfeit his right to contest for the 
prize. 

Eule 16. Bribing and Penalty. — Any com- 
petitor or other person bribing, or attempting to 
bribe, the trapper or puller, or attempting to 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 343 

obtain an unfair advantage in any manner what- 
soever, to be disqualified from shooting or sharing 
in the results of the match. 

Rult^ 17. To prevent Accidents. — The shooter, 
if he use a breech-loader, shall not put the cart- 
ridge in his gun until called to the score. If he 
use a muzzle-loader, he shall leave it uncapped 
until % called. 

Rule 18. Challenging and Penalties. — Any 
person participating in a match shall have the 
privilege of challenging a competitor as to charge 
of shot used, and the referee shall make such 
challenged party draw his charges and have them 
examined ; and, if found to exceed the limit fixed 
by rule, he shall forfeit his right to participate 
in the match, or share in the same in any way. 
If he fires his gun after being challenged, and be- 
fore the charge has been examined by the referee, 
he shall suffer the same penalty as for overloading. 

Rule 19. Time at Score. — Each participant in 
a shooting match shall hold himself in readiness, 
and come to the score prepared to shoot when 
his name is called by the scorer. If lie be longer 
than five minutes, it shall be discretionary with 
the referee whether to allow him to shoot or not 
in the match. 



WM. READ & SONS, 

13 FANEUIL HALL SQUARE, 



BOSTON, 



Importers of 




MASS. 



& Dealers in 



Breech and Muzzle-Loading Guns. 

W. C. Scott & Son's, Westley Richard's, Greener's, Webley's, Moore's 

and others. 
Also, Remington's, Whitney's, and other American makes. 

Maynard's, Ballard's, Remington's, Steven's, and other Sporting Rifles. 
Agents for W. C. SCOTT & SON'S BREECH-LOADERS. 

Every size of these celebrated Breech-Loading Guns constantly in stock— 14, 
12, 10, 8, and 4 bores— or imported to special order, if desired. 
Scott's Illustrated Book on Breech-Loaders, bound in morocco, 25 cts. by mail. 

Bussey's Patent Cyro-Pigeon Trap for Shooting 

Practice. 

Also, Fine Trout and Salmon Rods, Flies, Reels, and every article in Fishing 
Tackle. Send for Circulars. 



JOSEPH BUTLER & CO., 

179 E. MADISON STREET, CHICAGO, 

Winners of the Chicago Gun Trial of 1874, at Dexter Park, under the auspices of the 
Illinois State Sportsmen's Association. 

Messrs. BTJTLER & CO. respectfully invite the attention of the 
Sportsmen to the report of the Gun Trial, from which it will be seen 
that guns of their own manufacture, and those rebored by them, ex- 
celled both in pattern and penetration those of any other maker. 

Messrs. BTJTLER & CO. make a specialty of reboring guns to shoot 
properly, and that the enviable reputation they have achieved for this 
class of work is deserved, the following extracts from the above report 
clearly prove : 

" Three highest averages for Pattern, Daniel T. Elston, owner,— 191, 1-6. 
Rebored by J. Butler & Co. Manufactured by J. Butler & Co., owners,— 
181, 3-6. Manufactured by J. Butler & Co., owners,— 180, 4-6." 

Ereech- Loaders of their own manufacture are warranted un- 
excelled by those of any other maker. 

Each and every part of the gun is carefully examined by Mr. BUTLER 
before leaving the store. Repairing of all kinds neatly done. We keep in 
stock every quality of W. C. Scott & Son's Breech-Loaders, winners of the Gun 
Trial of 1873, in New York. W. W. Greener's and other celebrated makers kept 
in stock. Gun material of all kinds, Powder, Shot, and Caps, Ely's Ammunition 
and Metalic Co.'s Shells and Caps, Berdan Shells, and Draper & Co.'s Shells, &c, 
&c. A full stock of J. B. McHarg & Co.'s and Bradford & Anthony's Fishing 
Tackle, consisting of Bamboo Rods, Bass and Trout Rods, Reels, Spoon Bait, 
Flies, Silkworm Gut, Plated Linen and Silk Lines, Gut and Gimp Fish Hooks, 
and everything in the line. Sportsmen visiting the West will find every requi- 
site for a complete outfit. Parties from the East can have Shells loaded to 
order on short notice, and shipped to any parts of the States. A full stock kept 
constantly on hand. Ground and Plunge Traps. 



TO SPORTSMEN 




d 

s DROP SHOT. » 




wm/. 



Compared with any other, will 

be found Cleaner, Heavier, 

and more Uniform. 



^v^f^'jOte 




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A WEEKLY JOURNAL (OF SIXTEEN PAGES), 



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PUBLISHED WEEKLY, 

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One of the most able and successful Veterinary Surgeons of 
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Also gives carefully considered answers, judicial in their 
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BREECH- LOADING GUNS A SPECIALTY. 



Fine Guns and Rifles manufactured and imported to order. 
Agents for the Union Metallic Cartridge Company. 

The Sturtevant Brass Shell for Breech-Loading Shot Guns. 

BLACK'S fj\ PATENT 
CARTRIDGE ShHflfl/ VEST. 



This vest affords the best arrangement for carrying- cartridges yet 
invented. The weight is so evenly distributed that it is scarcely felt. 
The heads of the cartridges can be carried down, which is of importance 
when the brass shells are used, as in carrying them with the heads up 
the weight of the shot often forces the wad forward, when bad shooting 
is the result. The vest is made of English fustian, and is a sportsman- 
like garment. 

Price, each $7.50. 

In ordering send measurement around the chest, and gauge of gun. 



SCHUYLER, HARTLEY k GRAHAM, 

19 Maiden Lane, New York. 
Send for Circular. 




H 

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Sturtevant's Parent Brass 
Shell Tor Breech - Loading 
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Works Published by J. B. Ford 6° Co. 

THE CIRCUIT -RIDER. 

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Stephens, Frank Beard, and Kendrick. 

44 About as pure, breezy, and withal, I " Its pictures of the strange life of 
readable, a story of American life as we | those early Californian days are simply 
have met with this long time." — Con- I admirable, quite as good as anything 
gregationalist. I.Bret Harte has written." — Lit. World. 



SILVER AND GOLD. 

AN ACCOUNT OF THE MINING AND METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED 
STATES, WITH REFERENCE CHIEFLY TO THE PRECIOUS METALS. 

By ROSSITER W. RAYMOND. 

.U.S. Commissioner Mining Statistics ; Pres't. Am. Inst. Mining En- 
gineers ; Editor Engineering and Mining Journal ; Author of 
" Mines, Mills, and Furnaces," etc., etc. 
1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $3.50. 

"Valuable and' exhaustive work on a 
theme of great import to the world of 
industry." — Philadelphia Inquirer. 

27 Park Place, and 24 6° 26 Murray Street, New York. 



" A repository of much valuable cur- 
rent information." — N.Y. Tribune. 



Works Published by J. B Ford 6° Co. 
PRINCIPLES OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE 

AS APPLIED TO THE DUTIES AND PLEASURES OF HOME. 

By CATHARINE E. BEECHER and HARRIET BEECHER STOWE 

I vol. I2mo. Profusely Illustrated. Cloth, $2. 

Prepared with a view to assist in training young women for the 
distinctive duties which inevitably come upon them in household life, 
this volume has been made with especial reference to the duties, 
cares, and pleasures of the family \ as being the place where, whatever 
the political developments of the future, woman, from her nature of 
body and of spirit, will find her most engrossing occupation. It is 
full of interest for all intelligent girls and young women. 

The work has been heartily indorsed and adopted by the directors 
of many of the leading Colleges and Seminaries for young women 
as a text-book, both for study and reading. 



MINES, MILLS, AND FURNACES 
of the Precious Metals of the United States. 

BEING A COMPLETE EXPOSITION OF THE GENERAL METHODS EM- 
PLOYED IN THE GREAT MINING INDUSTRIES OF AMERICA. 

By ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, Ph. D., 

U. S. Commissioner of Mining Statistics. 

I vol. 8vo. With Plates. Cloth, $3 50. 

This is a very particular account of the condition of the mining 
interests, and the processes and mechanical appliances which are 
applicable to them, in California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, 
Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. It is the re- 
port of the Commissioner to the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
embodies all the information which official investigation and conti'i- 
butions from experts and residents of those regions can afford. 



u The author is thorough in his sub- 
ject, and has already published a work 
on our mines which commanded uni- 
versal approval by its clearness of state- 
ment and breadth of views,"— At£>anj> 
A reus. 

His scientific ability, his practical 



knowledge of mines and mining, his un- 
erring judgment, and, finally, the en- 
thusiasm with which he enters upon his 
work, all combine to fit him for his po- 
sition, and none could bring it to a 
greater degree of uprightness and fair- 
ness.' ' — Denver News. 



Z&~ Any of the above books will be sent to any address, post-paid, 
upon receipt of the price by the Publishers. 

27 Park Place, and 24 6° 26 Murray Street \ New York* 



Works Published by J. B. Ford &* Co. 
NEW LIFE IN NEW LANDS. 

NOTES OF TRAVEL ACROSS THE AMERICAN CONTINENT, FROM 
CHICAGO TO THE PACIFIC AND BACK. 

By GRACE GREENWOOD. 
I vol. l2mo. $2. 
This is a gathered series of letters, racy, brilliant, piquant ; full of 
keen observation and pungent statement of facts, picturesque in de- 
lineation of scenes on the plains, in the mountains, and along the 
sea. 



" Among the best of the author's 
productions, and every way delightful." 
— Boston Post. 

" The late William H. Seward char- 
acterized her account of Mormons and 
Mormonism as the most graphic and 
trustworthy he had ever read. ' — Meth- 
odist Home Journal. 



" Grace always finds lots of things no 
one else would see ; and she has a happy 
knack of picking up the mountains and 
cities and big tress, and tossing them 
across the continent right before the 
reader's eyes. It's very convenient."— 
Buffalo Express. 



MY WIFE AND I: 

OR, HARRY HENDERSON'S HISTORY. 
A Novel. 

By HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 
Illustrated. I vol. i2mo. Cloth, %\ 75. 

This charming novel is, in some respects, Mrs. Stowe's most 
thoughtful and complete book. It is eminently a book for the times, 
giving the author's individual ideas about the much-vexed Woman 
Question, including marriage, divorce, suffrage, legislation, and all 
the rights claimed by the clamorous. 

"A capital story, in which fashionable "Always bright, piquant, and enter- 
follies are shown up, fast young ladies rtrining, with an occasional touch of 
weighed in the balance and found want- tenderness, strong because subtle, keen 
ing, and the value of true worth ex- in sarcasm, full of womanly logic di- 
hibited." — Portland Argus. rected against unwomanly tendencies. 

— Boston Journal. 



THE OVERTURE OF ANGELS. 

A SERIES OF PICTURES OF THE ANGELIC APPEARANCES ATTENDING 

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. A CHAPTER FROM 

THE " LIFE OF CHRIST." 

By HENRY WARD BEECHER. 
Illustrated. I vol. i2mo. $2. 

A beautiful and characteristically interesting treatment of all the 
events recorded in the Gospels as occurring about the time of the 
Nativity. Full of poetic imagery, beauty of sentiment, and vivid 
pictures of the life of the Orient in that day. 

commend it to many readerSj to whom 
its elegance of form will giv'i it an addi- 
tional attraction." — IVorceiter {Mass. 



" The style, the sentiment, and faith- 
fulness to the spirit of the Biblical record 
with which the narrative is treated are 
characteristic of its author, and will 



Spy. 

" A perfect fragment." — N. Y. World. 



37 Park Place, and 24 &* 26 Murray Street, New York. 



Works Published bv T. P. Ford o^ Co. 



THE CHILDREN'S WEEK : 

SEVEN STORIES FOR SEVEN DAYS. 

By R. \V. RAYMOND. 

Illustrated by H. L. Stephens and Miss M. L. Hallock. 

i vol. i6mo. Cloth, %i 25. 

Seven cheery stories with a flavor of the holidays about them. 
Mr. Raymond's conceptions are ingenious, and while the glimpses of 
fairy-land and its wonders will open the eyes of the little folk, the 
book possesses many attractions for older persons in its simple, artis- 
tic style, and the quaint ideas in which it revels. 

and, withal, admirable good sense. The 
illustrations — all new and made for the 
book — are particularly apt and pleasing, 
showing forth the comical element of the 



" The book is bright enough to please 
any people of culture, and yet so simple 
that children will welcome it with glee." 
— Cleveland Plaindealer. 



Mr. Raymond's tales have won great 
popularity by their wit, delicate fancy, 



book and its pure and beautiful senti- 
ment." — Buffalo (N. Y.) Commercial 

A dvertiser. 



OUR SEVEN CHURCHES: 

eight lectures. 
By THOMAS K. BEECHER. 

I vol. i6mo. Paper, 50 cents ; Cloth, $1. 

A most valuable exponent of the doctrines of the leading religious 
denominations, and a striking exhibition of the author's magnanimity 
and breadth of loving sympathy. 



" The sermons are written in a style 
at once brilliant, epigrammatic, and 
readable." — Utica Herald. 

" This little book has created con- 
siderable discussion among the religious 
journals, and will be read with interest 
by all." — Phila. Ledger. 



" There is hardly a page which does 
not offer a fresh thought, a genial touch 
of humor, or a suggestion at which the 
reader's heart leaps up with grateful 
surprise that a minister belonging to a 
sect can think and speak so generously 
and nobly." — Milwaukee Sentinel. 



HISTORY of the STATE OF NEW YORK. 

FROM THE DATE OF THE DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENTS ON 

MANHATTAN ISLAND TO THE PRESENT TIME. A TEXT-BOOK 

FOR HIGH SCHOOLS, ACADEMIES, AND COLLEGES. 

By S. S. RANDALL, 

Superintendent of Public Education in New York City. 

I vol. i2mo. Illustrated. Cloth, $1 75. 

Officially adopted" by the Boards of Education in the cities of 
New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City, for use in the Public Schools ; 
and in Private Schools throughout the State. 

27 Park Place, and 24 & 26 Murray Street, New York. 



Works Published by J. B. Ford &> Co. 



LECTURES TO YOUNG MEN 
ON VARIOUS IMPORTANT SUBJECTS. 

NEW EDITION, WITH ADDITIONAL LECTURES. 

By HENRY WARD BEECHER. 

Uniform Edition of the Author's Works. 

I vol. i2mo. Cloth, $i 50. 

This was Mr. Beecher's first book, and is known all over the 
world. The present edition is enriched by the addition of several 
new lectures, and some reminiscences of the origin of the book by 
Mr. Beecher. The book should have a place in every family. It 
can scarcely fail to interest every intelligent reader, nor to benefit 
every young man who reads it. 



14 The subjects are all practical, and 
presented with characteristic impress- 
lveness." — Albany Evening' Journal. 

44 Wise and elevating in tone, pervaded 
by earnestness, and well fitted for its 
mission to improve and benefit the youth 
of the land.' — Boston Commonwealth. 

44 These lectures are written with, all 
the vigor of style and beauty of lan- 



guage which characterize everything 
from the pen of this remarkable man 
They are a series of fearless disserta- 
tions upon every-day subjects, conveyed 
with a power of eloquence and a prac- 
tical illustration so unique as to be 
oftentimes startling to the reader of 
ordinary discourses of the kind."— 
Philadelphia Inquirer. 



MOTHERLY TALKS 
WITH YOUNG HOUSEKEEPERS. . 

By MRS. H. W. BEECHER. 

WITH CARBON-PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR. 
I vol. I2mo. $2. 

Mrs. Beecher's notion of woman's sphere is, that, whatever ex- 
ceptional women may be able to accomplish by reason of peculiar 
circumstances and talents, the place of labor and achievement for 
most women, and for all married women and mothers, is Home. 

This book, composed of brief and pithy articles on almost every 
conceivable point of duty, is an admirable monitor for young wives, 
and a mine of good sense and information for growing maidens. 

make agreeable, well-regulated, and 
happy homes." — Boston Glo&e. 

'* What she has to say she says so 
well, with such good sense, ripe judg- 
ment, and such a mother-warmth of 
heart, that sh« cannot fail to help the 
class for whom she writes, and guide 
them into good and useful paths."— 
Presbyterian. 



11 An admirable corrective to ignorance 
in the household." — N. Y. Tribune. 

4k A useful and entertaining work, 
crammed with friendly and admirable 
monitions and instruction for young 
housekeepers." — Philadelph ia Even- 
ing Herald. 

This book is exactly what its title 
sets forth — a kind and motherly way of 
helping the young and inexperienced 



27 Park Places and 24 6° 26 Murray Street, New York. 



Works Published by J. B. Ford &* Co. 
WINNING SOULS. 

SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS DURING FORTY YEARS OF PASTORAL WORK. 

By REV. S. B. HALLIDAY. 
I vol. 121T10. Cloth, $1. 

The author of this volume for some time past has been, and now 
is, engaged as assistant in the pastoral labors of Plymouth Church, 
Brooklyn /Rev. H. W. Beecher's), where, in visiting among the sick, 
the poor, and the afflicted of that large parish, he is continually en- 
countering new and interesting phases of heart-life. These simple 
records of scenes among his earlier labors possess a peculiar interest. 



" Full of valuable suggestions to min- 
isters in the department of active duty." 
— Methodist Recorder. 

" The book^is tenderly written, and 



many of its pathetic scenes will be read 
with moistened eyes. We commend the 
book to pastors an4 people." — Boston 
Christian Era. 



NORWOOD : 
Or, Village Life in New England. 

A Novel. 

By HENRY WARD BEECHER. 

Uniform Edition of the Author's Works. 

I vol. l2mo. Illustrated. Cloth, $2.00. 

This is Mr. Beecher's only novel, and it affords a most remarkable 
illustration of his versatility. Full of exquisite descriptions of 
scenery and delineations of social and domestic life, exceedingly 
graphic and trustworthy in detail, and abounding in passages of 
genial humor and kindly wisdom, it is altogether one of the most 
enjoyable novels ever published. It is fragrant with the genuine 
raciness of the New England soil. 



PLEASANT TALK ABOUT FRUITS, 
FLOWERS, AND FARMING. 

NEW EDITION, WITH MUCH ADDITIONAL MATTER. 

By HENRY WARD BEECHER. 
Uniform Edition of the Author's Works. 
1 vol. i2mo. Cloth, $2. 00. 

This volume, when it was first given to the public some years ago, 
was most favorably received, both in this country and in England. 
The present edition contains many recent additions to the original 
book, dealing with both the poetical and the practical side of garden- 
ing and farming, the whole making a volume of rare interest and 
value. 

27 Park Place, and 24 e° 26 Murray Street, New York. 



"PARKER" 

THE PIONEER GUN 
H^- Still Ahead!! -« 



EVERY FIRST PRIZE FOR TRAP SHOOTING 

At the last convention of the 
NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION . 

WON WITH "THE PARKER"! 



-4+- 



Messrs. Newell and Hambleton, winners of the only prize given 
for " making the largest score in the three regular shoots," 

Both Shot The Parker Gun ! ! 

Two of the three winners of the Grand Stace Prize, 
" The Dean Richmond Cup," 

IFSHOT THE PARKER G-TJ:N"!!.» 

Medals aud Diplomas awarded THE PARKER GUN, 

When placed on exhibition in 

COMPETITION OPEN TO THE WORLD. 

. MEDAL AND DIPLOMA 

Prom the American Institute— 1869. 

SILVER MEDAL 

Texas State Fair, 1871. 

SILVER MEDAL 

Texas State Pair, 1873. 

SILVER MEDAL 

Mechanics and Agricultural Fair Association of Louisiana— 1872. 

DIPLOMA 

From the Vermont State Agricultural Society— 1868. 

DIPLOMA 

From the New Hampshire State Agricultural Society— 1868. 

DIPLOMA 

From the New Haven County (Conn.) Agricultural Society— 1867. 

DIPLOMA 

From the Sardis (Mass.) Agricultural and Mechanical Society, 1870. 

DIPLOMA 

From the Connecticut Valley Agricultural Association— 1870. 

DIPLOMA 

Agricultural and Mechanical Association of West Alabama— 1871. 

DIPL OMA 

Adams County (Miss.) Agricultural and Mechanical Association— 1872. 

FIRST PREMIUM 

At the Delaware County (Iowa) Fair— 1871. 

Send for Reduced Price List, May 1st, 1874. 

Prices, $45, $50, $60, $65, $75. $80, $100, $105, $150, $200,$350. 

Rebounding-Locks included. 

PARKER BROTHERS, West Meriden, Conn. 



ORANGE 

SPORTING POWDER, 

MANUFACTURED BY 

LAFLIN & RAND POWDER COMPANY, 



N" E TV Y O Tt IK. 



ORANGE LIGHTNING POWDER. 

This is the strongest and cleanest powder made. Nos. 1 to 7. Packed 
only in sealed 1 lb. canisters. The coarser sizes are especially recom- 
mended to owners of breech-loading guns, giving great penetration 
with very slight recoil. For trap shooting use No. 5 in guns of 12 gauge, 
and No. 6 in those of 10 gauge. 

ORANGE DUCKING POWDER. 

A very strong, clean powder, good for all shooting. Nos. 1 to 5. 
Especially adapted to killing ducks and geese at long range, and less 
liable to be affected by dampness than other brands. Packed in 6X lb. 
kegs, in 5 lb. canisters, and 1 lb. canisters. 

AUDUBON. 

This is a very quick, clean powder for woodcock and quail shooting. 
Nos. 1 to 4. Packed in 12M lb. kegs, 6% lb. kegs, and in 1 lb. canisters. 

ORANGE RIFLE POWDER. 

This is more generally used for field shooting than any of the other 
brands, being less costly than the higher grades, and giving nearly the 
same results in the field. 

No powder made of this grade will show such cleanliness as Orange 
Rifle. Packed in 25 lb. kegs, 12>£ lb. kegs, 6M lb. kegs, and in 1 lb. can- 
isters. Sizes, F, FF, FFF. 

All the above kinds of powder will give greater penetration and 
leave less residuum in the gun than any other brands known. 

The LAFLIN AND RAND POWDER COMPANY are engaged in 
the manufacture of Gunpowder for sporting and also for mining pur- 
poses on the largest scale, having their factories at many different 
points. Sporting powder is, however, made by them only in the State 
of New York, taking its name from the old Orange Mills in Orange Co. 
Their mills have the most approved methods and perfect appoint- 
ments, and the product is shipped to their magazines in all parts of the 
country, and to foreign ports. The reputation of the Orange Powder, 
established many years since, will be carefully guarded. 

Branches of the house are established at St. Louis, Chicago, Du- 
buque, Buffalo, and Baltimore, besides agencies in all the principal 
towns and cities. 



USE THE 

OEANGE POWDER 



REMINGTONS' 

Double- Barreled, Breech -Loading Shot Gun, 

Whitmore's Patents. August 8, 1871* April 16, 1872. 

We are now prepared to furnish 
our Improved Double-Barrel- 
ed Breech-Lo ading Shot Gun, 
which we reco mmend as the best 
ever offered the American sports- 
man, combining all the most de- 
sirable features of the best En- 
glish double guns, together with 
some valuable improvements not 
found in any other. 

In the prod uction of these guns 
no expense or trouble has been 
spared. 

In order to suit the require- 
ments of our different customers, 
we make three styles of gun, dif- 
fering only in tlxe finish and kind 
of barrels and stocks, which we 
offer at the full owing prices: 

Plain Walnut Stock, De- 
carbonized Steel Bar- 
rels, $45 00 

Fancy Stock, Twist 
Barrels, 60 00 

Extra Finish Stock, Da- 
mascus or other Fancy 
Twist Barrels, En- 
graved Lock Plate, - - 75 00 

In all of these guns only the best 
materials and workmanship are 
employed. 

In order to enable us to offer a 
thoroughly w ell made and relia- 
ble gun at the low price of $45, we 
have omitted all ornamentation 
of either the stock or metal work, 
leaving both tip and butt stock 
plain. . . 

Length of barrel, 28. 30 inches. 
Bore, 10, 13 gauge. Weight: 28 
inches No. 12 gauge, 8X lbs. : No. 
10 gauge, 8H lbs. 30 inches, No. 13 
gauge, 8% lbs.; No. 10 gauge, 
8)£ lta. 

^™ In fixing upon the model 
of our gun, we have chosen what 
we think best adapted to meet the 
wants of the public. We cannot 
vary, in any particular, from 
the dimensions and weight before 
mentioned, or in the style of fin- 
ish. Send for illustrated Cata- 
logue and priee-list. 
Address 

E. REMINGTON & SONS, 

281 and 283 Broadway, N. Y. 

MANUFACTORY : 
IEION, Herkimer Co., N. Y. P. O. BOX, 3994. 




w » 



THE F I E L D, 55 

A JOURNAL FOR THE SPORTSMEN OF TO-DAY. 



IPioblisliea. EVEEY SJ^TTJJRJDJ^Y MORNING 

AT 

179 EAST MADISON STREET, CHICAGO. 

o 

Terms op Subscription : Payable in advance. Yearly, $4.00 ; half-yearly, |2.00. 

Foreign and Canadian Subscription, post free— yearly, 18s. ; half-yearly, 9s. 

Single copies, 10 cents. 



a^HE FIELD is a complete weekly review of the higher branches of 
. sport— Shooting-, Fishing, Racing- and Trotting-, Yachting and 
Rowing, Base Ball, Cricket, Billiards, and General Sporting News, 
Music and the Drama. 

THE FIELD will be found in keeping with the times on all subjects 
pertaining to honorable sport, and will, under no circumstances, admit 
to its columns anything tending in anywise to demoralize or degrade 
public sentiment. 

THE FIELD being the only Sporting Journal published west of New 
York, and the recognized authority among the sportsmen of the "West 
and South, among whom it enjoys a large and increasing patronage, 
possesses superior advantages as an advertising medium, which will be 
appreciated by those desiring to make their business known in the 
United States. 

Agents tor Great Britain.— Messrs. Kirby & Endean, 190 Oxford 
Street, London. 

NOTICE TO THE TRADE. 

News Agents desirous of being supplied with THE FIELD are re- 
quested to apply to the publishers, 179 East Madison Street, from whom 
only it can be obtained. 

F. J. ABBEY & CO., 

MANUFACTURERS AND IMPORTERS OP 

Breech and Muzzle-Loading Guns 

RIFLES AND PISTOLS. 



Dealers in Fishing Tackle and General Sporting Goods. 

*** Bad Shooting Guns made to shoot well. 

SHELLS LOADED TO ORDER. 

43 S. CLARK STREET, CHICAGO, HI. 

JOSEPH TONK8, 

GUN MANUFACTURER, 
45 & 49 Union St., and 1 Marshall St., Boston. 

IMPORTER AND DEALER IN 

GUNS, RIFLES, REVOLVERS & CUTLERY, 

Parker Breech-Loading SIiot-Gwn. 

<•» 

Breech-Loading- Shot-Guns of celebrated Ensrlish makers. Paper 
and Metallic Shells for Shot-Guns of all kinds. Metallic Cartridges for 
Rifles, Revolvers and Pistols. Caps, Wads, Powder, Sbot, &c, &c. 
Pocket Cutlery, Razors, Scissors, &c. Air-Guns and Cap Rifles for 
Saloons and Fairs. Fire Arms Repaired. 



SPOETSMEN'S DEPOT. 




JOHN KRIDER, 

CORNER SECOND & WALNUT STREETS, PHILADELPHIA, 

IMPORTER, MANUFACTURER AND DEALER IN" 

GUNS, RIFLES, PISTOLS 

AND 

FISHING TACKLE OF ALL. KINDS. 

i 4* 

He invites all Sportsmen and dealers in his line to examine his stock 
of Flies and Spliced Bamboo Rods, which are the best in this country. 
We make Flies of all kinds to order, or rods of any style. 

Has constantly on hand a full assortment of Rods, Hooks, Lines, 
Baits, Reels, Hooks, Salmon Flies, Waterproof Silk Lines, Silk and Hair 
Trout Lines, &c. Perch Snoods, China and Grass Lines. Also, a large 
lot of Cane Reeds, Bamboo and Japan. 

A_. PETEEMAN, 

MANUFACTURER OF 

FINE BREECH & MUZZLE-LOADING GUNS 

TO ORDER. 

A Full Assortment of Sportsmen's Implements 
and Fi siting Tackle. 



No. 131 WALNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



PIGEONJTRAPS. 

"H" and "T" 

PLUNGE TRAPS. 

Common Traps . . . (per pair) $15.00 
Patent Self -Closing Traps " 25.00 

A pair of these Traps sent by freight or ex- 
press on receipt of price. 

W. F. PARKER, 

West Meriden, Conn. 




AMERICAN 

STANDARD. 



Patent Sifted Eagle Brand 



OF 



CHILLED 

DROP SHOT, 



AS ADOPTED BY THE 



New York State Sportsmen's Association. 



Thos. Otis Le Roy & Co. 

^CLterct STxot ctrtd L&clcL TVbr?c&, 

261 and 263 Water St., 
NEW YORK, 

SOLE MANUFACTURERS. 



SCHOVERLING & DALY, 

84 & 86 CHAMBER STREET, NEW YORK, 

MANUFACTURERS OF THE 

CHARLES DALY 

BREECH - LOADING GUNS. 




These Guns are pronounced by every dealer and sports- 
man who* has handled them to be the finest finished and 
closest and strongest shooting Chins in the market. The 
barrels are of beautiful pattern and finish, and the locks 
and mountings of the best quality. 

For sale by all the first-class Gun Dealers at our prices : 

Side Snap Action $100.00 to $110.00 

Top Snap Action, Double Bolt 130.00 " 175.00 

Pistol Grip Stocks (extra) 10.00 — 

Extra Close and Hard Shooting: guaranteed for 12.00 extra. 

Agents for WM. JPOWJ2ZZ & SONS. 




WM, POWELL & SONS' BREECH-LOADERS 

Have acquired, during the past few years, the first place in the 
estimation of English sportsmen ; as they come into use in this 
country, they are coming to be known as the best gun made 
in England. 



1 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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